Burlington’s city council has declared an emergency to accelerate repairs after a sinkhole was discovered underneath railroad tracks in the city.
Assistant City Manager Nick MacGregor says Burlington Northern Santa Fe officials notified the city last week there was hole in a section of the sewer that runs under a main line of tracks.
“I wouldn’t want to say, like: ‘This is Armageddon,’ or anything as far as sewer projects go. And seeing what happened at BNSF down in Montrose, I don’t think it’s going to be where you have a train in the sewer,” he says, “but there is the possibility that you could have a major collapse in that area if we don’t deal with it in a quick manner.”
The council approved the emergency declaration unanimously Monday and MacGregor estimates bids for the repairs will run over $100,000. MacGregor says the trains running over the sinkhole don’t seem to be causing any additional damage, so trains won’t need to be diverted to other tracks.
(By Collin Leddy, KBUR, Burlington)