A huge fire burned hundreds of feet of a railroad trestle at the American River in Sacramento on Thursday evening, causing part of the bridge to collapse and halting passenger and freight traffic on Amtrak and Union Pacific lines on the main east-west route in Northern California.One firefighter was injured, but the injury was not believed to be serious, authorities said. The nearest train, Amtrak's California Zephyr, was 4 miles east of Sacramento when the fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. The train returned to Roseville, where the 130 passengers were taken to their destinations by bus, said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole.
He said Amtrak would continue to bus passengers as long as the trestle was unavailable. "From what we were told, it's going to be at least a couple of weeks and maybe longer,'' Cole said. "It's a main artery, but our service is not shutting down. It's definitely going to be an inconvenience to Amtrak passengers.''
The trestle is on a major artery for Union Pacific freight trains. Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said the railroad has some alternate routes available.
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