One Bridge Too Far

A few days ago I posted an item about the railroad bridge over the Thames River near New London, Connecticut. A section between two towers (see below) raises to permit river traffic to pass through. That part of the bridge is being replaced after 90 years and there will be no rail traffic across the bridge for four days while the work is completed.

Originally, work on the bridge was to be finished by Tuesday the 17th, but everything was pushed back two days and now it will be finished on Thursday, the 19th. That, of course, is one of the days I’ll be traveling and the very day I was due to cross that bridge by train en route from Washington to Boston. No bridge means no train, and mine was cancelled.

Amtrak stepped up to the plate, however, and is providing a few extra trains to accommodate us poor displaced souls. The one they put me on will get me to Boston, but the long way ‘round – via Hartford and Springfield. My only regret is that I was originally booked on Amtrak’s high-speed train, the Acela. I’ve never ridden the Acela and the replacement will be the conventional kind.

All this is by way of noting that the people who operate passenger trains are constantly having to deal with an almost limitless variety of problems: track work, freight traffic, freight train derailments, grade crossing accidents, floods, landslides, equipment breakdown, and – yes – bridge repair. It’s been my experience that, by and large, the folks at Amtrak do a great job.

I once asked the dining car steward on VIA Rail’s Toronto-to-Vancouver train what was the most important quality for a member of an on-board crew to have. He didn’t even have to think. “You gotta be flexible,” he said.