A “surface slide” caused by heavy saturation on a slope in the north end of White Rock sent trees – some more than 30 feet in length – across a portion of train tracks early Thursday morning.
The slide occured around 12:30 a.m. March 31, about one mile north of the White Rock Museum and Archives, triggering a 48-hour moratorium on passenger trains and delaying four freight trains, according to Burlington Northern Sante Fe spokesperson Gus Melonas.
“Our crews were alerted by our signal system that there was a slide,” he said. “Mud, rock, debris came in contact with the outside of the track on the slope side.”
BNSF brought in a crane and personnel to remove the debris, and the line reopened Thursday at 5:30 a.m. Freight traffic has since resumed, Melonas noted at noon Thursday, though it is “running at a slower rate of speed as we monitor the conditions to ensure safety.”
Inspectors continued to observe activity on-site Thursday, and geotechnical engineers were surveying slopes in the area and beyond, Melonas said.
“We’re studying the various slope conditions all the way from Seattle to Vancouver.”
Melonas said the slide was caused by a “washout of the surface.”
“The debris that holds the roots was washed away due to the extensive weather that we’ve been experiencing this season,” he said, noting the area hasn’t experienced the number of slides that its neighbour to the south has. “This has been an extremely heavy year for slides in Washington State, between Seattle and Everett.”
Last winter, six slides were recorded along the Semiahmoo shoreline, causing Amtrak service to be cancelled a total of 10 days over a five-week period.