WATERLOO -- Iowa Northern trains are moving, even though flood-wrecked bridges in downtown Waterloo and elsewhere have, in the words of the railroad"s officials, basically cut the operation in half.

"The past week or two, we"ve been trying to respond as best we can, moving as quickly as we can, to get our own railroad operating again," Iowa Northern spokesman Joshua Sabin said Monday. "We had quite a bit of washout conditions."

Nevertheless, he said, trains were moving between Cedar Rapids and Manly and between Waterloo and Oelwein.

"We"re working feverishly this week to get the south end open between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids," Sabin said. "That should open toward the end of the week at the latest."

The Union Pacific-owned bridge across the Cedar River in Waterloo that Iowa Northern leases and uses as a main link between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids sustained heavy damage in the recent flooding.

"We probably use that bridge the most -- maybe six to eight times a day," Sabin said. "We"re working with UP to assess what needs to be done."

In addition to the railroad ridge in Waterloo, flooding destroyed the Cedar River Bridge in Cedar Rapids, and the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Bridge near Columbus Junction.

Inspectors have been assessing the damage at the Iowa Northern Bridge in downtown Waterloo, working with the railroads to come up with an estimate of the damage.

"Hopefully, we"ll begin to see some construction on that soon," Sabin said.

However, even if they had an accurate appraisal in hand right now, the bridge would remain off-limits for a long time to come, Sabin noted.

"A project of that magnitude isn"t going to happen overnight," he said. "You"re looking at six, nine months, maybe. How long, we don"t know for sure."

With the Waterloo bridge out of use, Iowa Northern has had to reroute traffic to Manly, and send shipments over UP and Canadian National lines to Cedar Rapids, Sabin said.

"We"ve begun handing off blocks of cars bound for ADM (Archer Daniels Midland, a grain processor in Cedar Rapids) at Manly, and they"re being taken to Cedar Rapids," Sabin said.

Iowa congressmen Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack have been working for some federal help for the railroads.

The two recently sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requesting her support to quickly repair flood-damaged or destroyed railroad bridges in Iowa. the letter urged Pelosi to support changes to the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program (RRIF), which finances low-interest loans for railroads to construct and rehabilitate railroad infrastructure. The letter requests flexible terms for railroad loans during natural disasters so Iowa railroads can quickly repair the downed spans.

"These repairs are essential to getting life back to normal for many Iowa residents, producers, and businesses," Braley said in a news release. "Waterloo"s Iowa Northern Bridge connected John Deere"s Waterloo Works to the country, and it is important that we act quickly to restore access to this vital facility. As Iowans continue down the road to recovery, it is essential for all of us to work together to help rebuild eastern Iowa."

John Deere tractors are being shipped without interruption, Sabin said.

"We"re taking them north to Manly and heading for their destinations out of Manly, rather than Cedar Rapids," Sabin said. "Luckily, with a little more effort, if everything is not moving at the moment, it will be soon, and John Deere is certainly part of that. Their tractors are moving out of town."

The flood, so far, has cost Iowa Northern about $6 million, excluding lost revenues, Sabin said.

"We plan on firming those estimates up in the next few weeks, as we're able to get projects completed and understand how much material we"ve needed to order," Sabin said.

He declined to speculate how much the floods have cost the company in lost sales.

"We have no idea on that yet," he said. "Obviously, we"re pretty much shut down for a week-and-a-half, two weeks, other than just Manly and our Oelwein-Fairbank. We had a little bit of work being done during that time but, for the most part, we were pretty much shut down."

The company also remained homeless, having been unable to return to its headquarters in the Paramount Theater Building in downtown Cedar Rapids, Sabin said.

"We hope to be back this week," he said, noting that the company had to flee its offices about three weeks ago. "We"ve been in our other offices, homes, piecing what we can together," Sabin said. "We"re kind of hoping we can struggle along."

Iowa Northern is hoping to be back to at least 80 percent in the next few weeks, Sabin said.

""I"m not totally confident about these numbers, but that"s what we"re hoping," he said.