The Bismarck Park Board on Thursday tabled for up to six months a request from railroad preservation group Friends of the Rail Bridge to join its public-private partnership, citing unknown financial responsibility. The nonprofit presented to the park board at its meeting last month, but the board did not make a decision because two members were absent. Earlier this month, the Burleigh County Commission withdrew from a fledgling partnership with the Friends group because of liability and financial concerns. Friends of the Rail Bridge wants to stop BNSF Railway from demolishing the 138-year-old Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge spanning the Missouri River to make way for a new structure. The preservation group and railroad signed an agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard in January outlining paths to either keeping or removing the bridge. The Coast Guard decides on projects proposed along that part of the Missouri River to âensure the structure does not unreasonably affect navigation,â according to a Federal Register notice.