Bad Weather Hammering NS & CSX

NWS

ATLANTA & JACKSONVILLE –– Norfolk Southern and CSX, which serve the same general territory, have been hit hard with severe flooding, along with ice and snow.

Norfolk Southern released a customer service alert this week to let shippers know that their operations in Southern West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Southwest Virginia, and Eastern Ohio have been impacted by severe flooding from both engineering and mechanical standpoints. The railroad said its teams have been working around the clock “to safely assess conditions, reroute traffic, and fully restore service.

NS reported on Tuesday morning that a major washout had occurred west of Williamson, West Virginia, suspending service on both mainline tracks. Crews are working to restore both tracks, but the timeline for full-service restoration is unknown.

CSX reported this week that, in addition to severe flooding in the South, it has been battling ice and snow. While the railroad says its teams are working to minimize impacts, it reported the following specific problem areas:

• Northeast Region: Baltimore, Buffalo, Cumberland, Selkirk, and Syracuse, as well as Russell, KY to Hinton, KY.
• Midwest Region: Avon, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Louisville.
• Southwest Region: Bruceton, Memphis, Montgomery, and Nashville.
• Southern Region: Waycross is managing higher-than-normal traffic, which may cause some delays.

National Weather Service

Regarding the eastern portion of the United States, the National Weather Service says that “a winter storm will continue across North Carolina and the southern Mid-Atlantic through this evening (Wed., Feb 19). The moderate snowfall will be ongoing this afternoon (2/19) across North Carolina and the southern Mid-Atlantic and is expected to fall through Thursday (2/20) for these regions, with accumulations of 6-10 inches of snow possible. Additionally, areas of sleet/freezing rain are also expected just to the south of the swath of snowfall across the coastal plains of North Carolina this afternoon (2/19) into early this evening.

“Record cold temperatures will settle south toward the Gulf Coast through the next couple of days. A cold front will sweep through Florida this afternoon (2/19) and bring the chance of showers and thunderstorms. Florida will will join the millions of people experiencing this Arctic air outbreak. High temperatures will drop from the 70s and 80s to the 50s and 60s and low temperatures in the 30s as far south as Orlando by later this week.”

RT&S will keep readers apprised of any weather changes or service restorations that are reported by NS and CSX.