BEVERLY - The operator of the railroad bridge between Beverly and Salem might have shut the span too soon on a 60-foot barge, causing an accident that disrupted the commute of thousands of passengers across the North Shore, according to the head of the governor's Seaport Advisory Council.
"I'm sure there was a commuter rail coming through, so he thought, 'Let's get the bridge down so we don't slow the trains down,'" said Richard Armstrong, executive director of the seaport council.
The 5:30 a.m. accident closed the bridge during yesterday's morning commute and forced train riders to get off in Beverly, board buses to Salem, then get back on a train at the Salem depot. The MBTA said about 16,000 people per day ride the trains that come through Beverly on the Newburyport and Rockport lines.
The railroad bridge reopened at about noon yesterday, but it will be closed to trains today from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. for more permanent repairs, MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas said.
Grabauskas said buses will again be available to take train riders between Beverly and Salem. But he urged people to drive directly to Salem and board the train there, if possible.
Who's to blame?
Officials said no one was injured in the accident. The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating. A Coast Guard spokesman said the responsible party could face fines.
The incident involved a barge carrying material dredged from the bottom of the Crane and Porter rivers in Danvers that was being pushed by a tugboat toward Beverly Harbor through the railroad bridge on the Danvers River.
An operator stationed in a tower electronically opens the bridge when a boat needs to pass through. The bridge swings open, creating two separate pathways for the boat.
According to Grabauskas, the barge bumped into the bridge, shearing off a large bolt and cracking a steel plate. But Armstrong, the head of the Seaport Advisory Council, said the barge operator told investigators that the bridge tender closed the bridge before the barge was all the way through, causing the bridge to hit the barge.
Armstrong, whose agency is overseeing the dredging operations, said he will await the outcome of the Coast Guard investigation. But he also said the barge operator's explanation makes sense. He said the bridge tender probably could not see the barge in the dark and snowy conditions and wanted to close the bridge quickly so as not to slow down a train scheduled to pass over the bridge in a few minutes.
"It makes far more sense to me that the bridge tender thought they were all the way clear and started closing the bridge and caught the barge," Armstrong said.
Armstrong said the barge is 39 feet wide, and the bridge opening is only 40 feet wide, so there is only 6 inches of clearance on both sides. But he said such a narrow opening is not unusual for barges. He said the boats travel extremely slowly, and the sides of the bridge are equipped with wooden fenders to cushion any contact.
Earlier in the dredging operation, which began two weeks ago, Armstrong said the barge attempted to pass through the other opening and couldn't fit. It had to back up and go through the other side, he said.
The barge in yesterday's accident was carrying a full load of dredged material and weighed well over 100 tons, Armstrong said.
No structural damage
Grabauskas said the railroad bridge suffered no structural damage. He said workers made a temporary fix to allow trains to run over the bridge for yesterday's afternoon commute. Workers will replace the damaged parts today for a more permanent fix, he said.
The barge was operated by Cashman Dredging and Marine Contracting Co., which is based in Quincy. The company bid $1.6 million to win the Danvers dredging contract from the state. The company released a statement saying it was cooperating with Coast Guard investigators.
"Out of respect for that ongoing process, the company will not join in unfounded, premature speculation about the incident and its cause, and will have no further comment until the review is completed," the statement said.
The dredging project involves about eight vessels, from small tugboats to large barges, and is scheduled to be completed in February. The Crane and Porter rivers have not been dredged since 1983, and boaters have been complaining that their boats strike bottom at low tide.
The operation involves digging up 58,000 cubic yards of sediment from the rivers, using a hydraulic arm and a "clam shell"-shaped scoop to get the muck out of the river bottom. This crane barge is parked in the Crane River.
The material is then placed on smaller "hopper" barges, which then ferry the dredged material through three bridges, including the MBTA bridge, to a "lightening station" in Beverly Harbor adjacent to the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
So far, 10,000 cubic yards of material have been dredged, said Christine Player, an engineer with the civil engineering firm Vine Associates of Newburyport, speaking to officials at the Danversport Yacht Club yesterday.
Armstrong said work must go on 24 hours per day in order to meet the Feb. 14 deadline, when spawning season for fish and other wildlife in the river begins. He said working in the dark could have contributed to yesterday's accident.
Investigators shut down the dredging project yesterday, but Armstrong said work was going to be stopped for the holidays anyway.
Alison Scott, a Somerville resident who was trying to get from Beverly to Boston, was forced to hop on a bus at the Beverly train depot yesterday morning and ride to Salem to catch the train.
"It had to happen in winter, didn't it?," she said, holding a cup of coffee as she boarded the bus in the morning chill. "It's astounding to think that in the 21st century a boat can drive into a bridge and bring the city to a stop."
The Seaport Advisory Council is a state board that is overseeing the dredging operation. Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray, the chairman of the advisory council, was in Danvers yesterday for a scheduled tour of the dredging project.
Reporter Tom Dalton contributed to this story.
