ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern crews are out across the network tending to widespread damages caused by Hurricane Helene on Friday. Rail service is still suspended across many lines from Georgia to West Virginia.
Railroad crews are spending today (Monday, Sept. 30) clearing trees across a 70-mile section of its Brunswick District between Macon, Ga., and Brunswick, Ga., and unprecedented floods have wiped out rail service east and west of Asheville, N.C., on the former Southern Railway. There is no timeline on when freight trains will roll through Asheville again.
In the Virginias, power outages are affecting rail service between Bluefield, W.Va., and Norton, Va., and in the south, rail service between Augusta, Ga., and Millen, Ga., and up to Columbia, S.C., is still out of service due to downed power lines.
The railroad notes it has made significant progress restoring rail service across key parts of its network, including arteries between Chattanooga, Tenn., and Jacksonville, Fla., through Atlanta, and between Birmingham, Ala., and Charlotte, N.C., also through Atlanta. The railroad has also restored service between Macon, Ga., and Savannah, Ga., in the Savannah District.
The railroad will continue providing additional customer updates as other rail lines are restored.
Tonnage through Asheville is marginal due to shifting routing patterns and fewer rail served businesses in that area. Should NS decide to not rebuild the railroad through there, WATCO’s Blue Ridge Southern and the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad will be left high and dry.