T'railway damage from Snowmageddon could cost millions to fix: council president

The Newfoundland T'railway Council estimates the cost to repair damage done to the trail during last month's record blizzard could be in the millions.

"Snowmageddoncertainly took a toll on us," T'railway council president Rick Noseworthy toldThe St. John's Morning Show."The highest tides and the most wind and surf that I've ever seen. It washed out a significant portion of the T'railway."

The Newfoundland T'railway a popular trail for walkers, bikers and snowmobilers runs along the island's old railway track.

Noseworthy said damage done during the blizzard washed out about 13 kilometres of path between Foxtrap and Holyrood. The section of trail was deemed unsafe by the provincial government.

"It's no longer a usable path," Noseworthy said. "You can see it there but there's craters and holes and washouts. I believe down in some areas there's even some pipe exposed."

While the damage is still being assessed, Noseworthysaid initial assessments could be high. Along with the cost of labour, replacing what was damaged can get expensive quickly.

"Even to rebuild a trestle [bridge] can be as much as $1,000 a metre," Noseworthy said.

Noseworthy said finding the money for repairswillbe a challenge.

"We talk about disaster relief, and everyone says, 'You know, it could be a 90/10 split,'" Noseworthy said. "But even at a 90/10 split, that 10 is awful hard to come up with. If it's $10 million [in]damage nobody has a million dollars."

'This is certainly climate change'

Noseworthy said the area is facing more major weather events every year, something he attributes to climate change.

"This is certainly, in my opinion, climate change," Noseworthy said. "I've been involved with the T'railway nearly 20 years, and in the last five years we've seen more events than we have in the previous 15."

Although the damage to the trail will limit use in the area, Noseworthy says the timing of it is a best-case scenario for the T'railwaycouncil.

"If there's such as thing as a good time for this to happen, this might be it," Noseworthy said. "Because in the summertime we got thousands of ATVers coming across and spending their money. So it's closed at the end, but we can still get across the island. So it's good that way."

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