Alaska Railroad suspends operations after quake damages Anchorage facilities

[John]

FAIRBANKS - The Alaska Railroad has suspended all operations amid "severe" damage at their Anchorage Operations Center and unknown condition of tracks throughout the state.

All passenger operations for Saturday and Sunday have been canceled, including holiday and aurora passenger train services.

External Affairs Manager Tim Sullivan said the operations center has lost power and is experiencing flooding.

"It's tough to run trains when you have no dispatch," he said.

http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_news/alaska-railroad-suspends-operations-after-quake-damages-anchorage-facilities/article_c4617cc2-f4e8-11e8-ab6c-3bc718fee1b8.html

[Philip H]

Heard from @Dave Schneider via Facebook. He’s ok as is his house and family.

[MK]

Look at the damage!  How can they repair these severely damaged roads in freezing temperatures?  Wait until Spring?

https://www.thisisinsider.com/anchorage-alaska-earthquake-pictures-videos-devastation-2018-11

[learmoia]

Look at the damage!  How can they repair these severely damaged roads in freezing temperatures?  Wait until Spring?

https://www.thisisinsider.com/anchorage-alaska-earthquake-pictures-videos-devastation-2018-11

Dirt, Gravel and Rock, and maybe a quick patch of a hard surface to get it to spring. (Remember they drive on ice roads up there.. .. Im sure construction methods up there are quite different.. Its been near 0-30deg here and road crews are still doing concrete work..   

[nkalanaga]

A few winters back Chicago was patching potholes with ice.  They filled the hole with snow, used a jackhammer-style compactor, and then poured water on the finished patch.  It was too cold for traditional patching materials, and if they had gotten it patched, the patch would have come out with the next freeze-thaw cycle.  This way they just added more snow to re-repair it.

Aerial photos show that a lot of the Alaska road damage was a small area of the road, maybe a couple hundred yards, not miles of road.  I wonder if some of it was "liquefaction" at culverts or other wet areas.

[sirenwerks]

Look at the damage!  How can they repair these severely damaged roads in freezing temperatures?  Wait until Spring?

https://www.thisisinsider.com/anchorage-alaska-earthquake-pictures-videos-devastation-2018-11

Alaska has a robust emergency management program and continuit of operations planning, Earthquakes aren't new to the state. It will pull through with aplomb, it just has to wait for the aftershocks to die down before making such repairs.

[tom mann]

@Dave Schneider how is it up there?

[nkalanaga]

So far there are still no reports of injuries, and anyone living in Alaska has to be prepared for utility and transportation interruptions, so they'll make it.