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.
I was amazed to see that GSMR resumed operations. They lucked out with the rain.
https://gsmr.com/helene-updates/
I would imagine BSR is out of service for awhile.
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.
Given the lack of through traffic between Spencer yard, NC and Knoxville, TN, I could see NS deciding to seek abandonment of the ‘S’ line from Asheville, NC to Tennessee. This is the section along the French Broad River which looks to have the most severe damage from the hurricane. They might determine the expense required to repair it isn’t justifiable. I hope they do keep open Asheville to Spencer. Otherwise, as you say, Blue Ridge Southern and Great Smoky Mountains RR might be cut off from the national rail system. On another subject; the state of North Carolina has future plans to restore passenger service to this route.
Perhaps the politics should change in NC to bring the rail served business back. I am sure most of those areas would now fight any factory and like upstate NY or PA, existing industries will be taxed to death.