Oct. 19--OGDENSBURG -- The project to fix a mile of railroad track where a train derailed earlier this year has been delayed until spring.

Vermont Rail System, Burlington, which operates the line, expected to replace about one mile of 80-pound rail between Ogdensburg and Lisbon with 100-pound rail this summer. Administrative red tape and problems scheduling the construction pushed the project back to the beginning of next year's construction season, said Jerome M. Hebda, vice president of Vermont Rail, which operates the line.

"We had to jump through quite a few hoops to get everybody happy," Mr. Hebda said. "Now we got everything lined up and everybody is happy with everything, but we've got crews in other areas and so when they get finished over there, the ground will be frozen."

Getting permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for storing materials, such as the 5,000 railroad ties that will be replaced, led the company to reschedule the project several times during the past five months, Mr. Hebda said.

"Every time it gets rescheduled, it's not just a matter of turning a switch. They were deployed in other areas," he said. "There are limited machines and people and we have 400 miles of track to maintain."

Despite delays in the larger project, Mr. Hebda said, crews are continuing to do stop-gap work on the rail, where buckles caused by heat led nine cars carrying salt to jump the tracks this summer. Crews also have begun taking down the more than 100-year-old Church Street Bridge in Lisbon, he said.

The bridge, owned by the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority, is dilapidated and has been closed to traffic since 1995. OBPA and Vermont Rail officials are concerned the roughly 12-foot-wide span, which stands 20 feet above the rails, limits the space for oversized cargo and could hurt future business.

The total rail replacement is expected to cost about $125,000. It will be funded using $1.5 million the state Department of Transportation allocated to the OBPA, which owns the rail, for seven miles of rail improvements through the Passenger and Rail Preservation program.

Mr. Hebda said the rail replacement will be the first construction project for the company when the ground thaws. He expects work could be completed within a month.

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