Eleven days after a railroad bridge collapsed in Vermilion Parish causing a train derailment, that bridge has been rebuilt, but it may soon need to come back down.

The Vermilion Parish Drainage Board says there aren't enough drainage culverts under the bridge, which could pose a danger for the nearby area should there be a heavy rain.

The board has given L & D Railroad of New Iberia a 2 week deadline to fix the problem, before the parish scraps the bridge on it's own.

"They're going to rip those pipes out and basically trash the rail, in other words the rail would be impassable," said Eddie Gaspard, general manager of Planter's Rice Mill in Abbeville.

That would be a worst case scenario for Gaspard and his company, which distributes about half-a-billion pounds of rice every year, almost all of that by rail.

"That would basically cripple this mill," Gaspard said.

The head of the drainage board say L & D Railroad has not been receptive to their requests, so the parish is considering legal action. KATC was unable to reach L & D for comment.

Jim Hummel

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