The Cedar River Bridge that serves Penford in Cedar Rapids was destroyed when the Cedar River flooded this month. (Lynda Waddington)

Flooding in eastern Iowa destroyed three railroad bridges: the Iowa Northern Bridge in Waterloo, the Cedar River Bridge in Cedar Rapids and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Bridge near Columbus Junction.

Loebsack, who represents the 2nd Congressional District that includes Cedar Rapids and Columbus Junction, and Braley, who represents the 1st Congressional District that includes Waterloo, have penned a joint letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to request that the bridges be quickly repaired and destroyed.

]]> http://iowaindependent.com/2524/braley-and-loebsack-go-to-bat-for-broken-railroad-bridges/feed 0 http://iowaindependent.com/873/video-crandic-train-excursions-in-corridor http://iowaindependent.com/873/video-crandic-train-excursions-in-corridor#comments Sun, 26 Aug 2007 05:17:34 +0000 Adam Burke http://iowaindependent.com/873/video-crandic-train-excursions-in-corridor More than 50 years have passed since CRANDIC (Cedar Rapids AND Iowa City) trains have carried passengers.  They returned for free demonstrations Saturday for a special “Corridor Train Excursion” on the Hawkeye Express.  The train is owned by Iowa Northern Railways and the rails by Alliant Energy.

The day was part of a plan by Johnson and Linn counties and Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, North Liberty and Swisher city governments to gauge customer interest in commuter trains in the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Corridor.

Video is available below the fold.

If federal monies can be secured, Joshua Sabin of Iowa Northern Railway Company says that the first phase would re-establish passenger trains from Iowa City to North Liberty.  The next phase would expand to the Cedar Rapids Airport and then to Cedar Rapids. 

The CRANDIC line sees little use; Sabin said there are currently only two freight runs made on the line per week.

Each leg of the train ride lasted 90 minutes, a far cry from quick but congested highway I-380, which an average 11,000 people use everyday. 

A study suggests that for $70 million, the tracks can be upgraded for faster travel, depots can be built, and train equipment can be procured for full competitive service.  In contrast, the estimate for adding just one lane of traffic to I-380 would run $400 million.

The event attracted rail fans from across the country, including William Kuba, President of the Iowa chapter of the National Railway Historical Society.  He rode the last official run of the CRANDIC Interurban passenger train in 1953 and says he came back for the “nostalgia.”

Serious rail fans were easily identified in the crowd, but many local families enjoyed the leisurely rides.  Almost two thousand passengers were carried on two round trips between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.