How do the tenses work in this sentence


For full context, see here exercise 3:
<https://www.docdroid.net/rHnvU6R/2.pdf>

The sentence in question:

A: 駅まで行ったら、この大雪のせいで電車が止まっていて......今日中に向こうに着くのは無理だっていうから帰ってきたんだ。

First, my attempt at translation: "I came back, because when I went to the
station, with the train being on hold because of the snowmasses they said that
within this day, going to the other side (=going to the destination station)
is impossibru."

In my opinion, 帰ってきたんだ sets the tense for the rest of the sentence, as the
speaker is talking exclusively about things which happened in the past.
Therefore, I would also expect the "...たら-clause...clause2" to show another
past tense in clause2, which also would quite fitting for the situation of "I
did X and in consequence I discovered Y" -> 家に帰ったら、猫がいなかった。

However, here っていう sets the tense of clause2 to present. As far as I can
remember, it is also grammatical to say ...と言いました or って言った. So I wonder what
the reason might be that present tense is used here? Also, how does it change
the meaning of the sentence, if it does at all?

In a question dealing with a similar problem, some of you said that if the
context is strong enough, the tenses can be used however one wishes. Is this
the case here as well?

One sidequestion: Why is it 帰って **きたんだ** ? What is this 来る doing here? I can
only imagine two meanigns: Either 来る marks that the action is going in the
direction of the speaker like 兄が帰ってきた。 Or it marks that someone performs an
action and then immediately returns like スーパーで牛乳を買ってきます。 I think the latter
makes more sense, but it seems a bit strange to me because until now, I only
encountered cases where the speaker tells us about a thing he is about to
do/going to do in the (near) future with the intent to return immediately
after completing that action.




> 今日中に向こうに着くのは無理だっていうから

This いう no longer describes a real act of saying something, but rather takes
part in one of various idiomatic usages of っていう (colloquial form of という) that
virtually means "being told", "reported that" or "by hearsay", and, in this
sense, never takes other than the dictionary form.

> [**言う**](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/9767/meaning/m0u/)
>
> 3️⃣  
>  **５**
> （「…という」「…ということだ」などの形で）話の内容が直接でなく他からの情報にもとづくことを表す。「気象庁の長期予報によると、今年の冬は寒いと―・う」「病状は峠を越したと―・うことなので安心した」

Also, in this particular case, replacing with 無理だっていったから etc. (i.e.
interpreting as a normal verb) is highly unnatural, as no potential subject is
introduced beforehand, neither is himself.

> _One sidequestion: Why is it 帰って **きたんだ** ?_

Because a bare 帰る is closely associated with " **go** back home" rather than "
**come** back home". You must always use 帰ってくる when you mention heading home
while you are home.




> 今日中に向こうに着くのは無理だっていうから

This いう no longer describes a real act of saying something, but rather takes
part in one of various idiomatic usages of っていう (colloquial form of という) that
virtually means "being told", "reported that" or "by hearsay", and, in this
sense, never takes other than the dictionary form.

> [**言う**](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/9767/meaning/m0u/)
>
> 3️⃣  
>  **５**
> （「…という」「…ということだ」などの形で）話の内容が直接でなく他からの情報にもとづくことを表す。「気象庁の長期予報によると、今年の冬は寒いと―・う」「病状は峠を越したと―・うことなので安心した」

Also, in this particular case, replacing with 無理だっていったから etc. (i.e.
interpreting as a normal verb) is highly unnatural, as no potential subject is
introduced beforehand, neither is himself.

> _One sidequestion: Why is it 帰って **きたんだ** ?_

Because a bare 帰る is closely associated with " **go** back home" rather than "
**come** back home". You must always use 帰ってくる when you mention heading home
while you are home.

