As the Southeast braced Oct. 9 for impact from Hurricane Milton, the second such storm to batter the region in two weeks, Norfolk Southern continued its rapid service restoration efforts following Hurricane Helene, completing critical work.
Impacts from Milton, which decimated Florida overnight Oct. 9-10, are being evaluated. Suffice to say that the railroads operating and/or interchanging in that state—NS (through subsidiary Georgia Southern & Florida), CSX, Florida East Coast, Tri-Rail, Brightline, SunRail, Amtrak, AN Railway, Bay Line Railroad, First Coast Railroad, Florida Central, Florida Gulf & Atlantic, Florida Midland, Florida Northern, Georgia & Florida, Jacksonville Port Terminal Railroad, Seminole Gulf Railway and South Central Florida Express, Inc., to name a few—have their work cut out.
Hurricane Helene swept through the Southeast in late September, “bringing with it historic flooding, unprecedented damage and unanticipated topography changes to parts of the region,” NS reported Oc. 9. “Hundreds of our railroaders got to work, restoring service and helping our network recover from the storm’s impact.”
NS reported that “all core routes were open within 72 hours of Helene making landfall. Our Engineering team cleared more than 15,000 trees, repaired multiple washouts and more than 50 damaged slide fences, deployed 400-plus generators and safely operated in more than 1,000 locations without commercial power. In the hardest hit areas, along our AS Line (Salisbury, N.C to Morristown, Tenn., crossing the Eastern Continental Divide through the Blue Ridge Mountains and Asheville, N.C.), initial damage assessments discovered 21,500 feet of track washed out, more than 50,000 feet of track damaged by scour, more than 15,000 feet of fill failures and slides, and multiple bridges damaged. Engineering teams reopened the AS Line between Salisbury, N.C. and Old Fort, N.C., as well as between Newport, Tenn. and Morristown, Tenn. Oct. 9, working, in some cases, without access to public roadways.”
NS noted that it experienced difficulty assessing damage along portions of the AS Line around Asheville and over Black Mountain, where much track was destroyed, “due to the remote nature and mountain topography of the region, coupled with the conditions following the storm and subsequent flooding.” The railroad’s Initial projections estimate the line between Asheville and Newport will reopen by late January 2025. Evaluations of the track between Asheville and Old Fort are ongoing.
“We know firsthand at Norfolk Southern the critical role rail plays in connecting communities, and we continue to support ongoing recovery efforts,” said Vice President Engineering Ed Boyle. “Our work is not finished, but our railroaders on the ground are the best in the business, and I want to thank them for their dedication and hard work in getting as much of our network restored as quickly and safely as possible so that we can continue to provide access to communities and move the goods we all rely on.”
