LIVERMORE FALLS - Selectmen voted unanimously Monday to hire Ted Berry Co. to put a new sewer pipe under the railroad tracks.

The emergency project is estimated to cost nearly $43,000 and is needed to repair a collapsed sewer line that runs under the tracks behind Franklin Avenue. The money will come out of a sewer reserve account.

The sewer line services two apartment buildings on the dead-end road across from Food City.

The line became plugged in June and raw sewage was coming up through the railroad bed. The line that ran from Franklin Avenue to the railroad property was replaced, and last week the sewer pipe under the tracks collapsed. The line has plugged numerous times over the past 10 or more years, Matt Timberlake, owner of the Livermore company, told selectmen.

A temporary bypass line was installed but it will not provide reliable service for more than two to three weeks and needs to be checked daily, Timberlake said.

To install the new sewer pipe, the company will use a pipe-ramming method to drive about 60 feet of steel casing under the railroad tracks. The casing must meet Pan Am Railways specifications to withstand the weight of loaded trains, Timberlake said. Pan Am requires an engineering design for the project.

The railway will not allow the town to act as general contractor, and wants the company doing the work to buy insurance for a railroad rider at $8,000 for a $10 million policy.

Installation for the pipe and casing is estimated at $25,000; the total cost is estimated at $42,950.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has been kept abreast of the situation and has been out to visit the site, Timberlake said.