Alaska Railroad back on track after repair of ice-jam damage

The Alaska Railroad resumed train service north of Talkeetna late Tuesday after crews repaired damage from flooding and an ice jam — just in time for the Wednesday start of the tourist season.

"All trains are running," Tim Sullivan of the Alaska Railroad Corp. said early Wednesday.

He added in an email: "Just. In. Time."

Flooding and a 7-foot "wall of ice" from a Susitna River ice jam near Curry damaged the tracks, leaving a roughly 1,000-foot section shoved about 25 feet off the railbed.

['Wall of ice' from Susitna River damages railroad tracks.]

Service ground to a halt Saturday as crews scrambled to make repairs.

The work will cost "well over $1 million," though an exact amount has not been determined, Sullivan said.

Operations resumed Tuesday overnight with a freight train running from Anchorage to Fairbanks, said Sullivan.

And at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Denali Star train carrying tourists left Anchorage for Fairbanks. The service marked the start of the Alaska Railroad's busy five-month summer season sending cruise ship passengers north to view Denali.

More than 1,000 passengers will make the trip daily, a huge jump from winter passenger numbers of about 200 on weekend trips.

The damage occurred on the train's original route, installed around 1920 when it was owned by the federal government, he said. The railroad was transferred to the state in 1985.

[Hello, spring breakup: Watch as ice grinds along the Susitna River at Talkeetna]

Crews in heavy equipment reset the trackbed after removing huge blocks of river ice and shoving boulders and rocks back in place, said Sullivan.

It's "absolutely" safe, Sullivan said. "That's why we ran the freight train service first."

"Crews are on site to continue cleanup and be there should any other issues arrive," Sullivan said.