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Railway Age, Oct, 1999

Hurricane Floyd's drenching rains and gusting winds during the third week of September drove the railroads in its path--CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern, Amtrak, and a host of smaller freight and commuter roads--to seek cover and reduce or cancel service. The eastern seaboard suffered acutely with downed trees and power lines, flooding, track washouts, and mudslides, causing m/w personnel to work around the clock. Hardest hit was North Carolina, where CSXT lost a viral bridge to the Tar River. NS experienced severe problems in its northern region between Allentown, Pa., and New Jersey. In early October, work still continued on NS and CSXT lines.

Warned of the storm, NS and CSXT moved rolling stock out of the affected areas and kept ballast cars on hand to restore track. CSXT disassembled crossing gates so they wouldn't become projectiles. As Floyd progressed, CSXT tracked it via helicopter, repairing damage left in the storm's wake. CSXT's dispatch center in Jacksonville, Fla., which operated at 20% staffing when the city was evacuated, caused many problems. Amtrak, Maryland's MARC, Virginia Railway Express, and Florida's Tri-Rail--all dispatched from Jacksonville--suffered service disruptions. CSXT sent 100 Jacksonville employees to an Atlanta, Ga., customer service office to deal with calls from shippers.

Flooding at Trenton, N.J., caused Amtrak to suspend Northeast Corridor service between New York City and Washington, D.C. MTA Metro-North's Harlem line operated only as far north as Chappaqua, N.Y., while it dried out trackage in northern Westchester County. New Jersey Transit trains were delayed or cancelled.

NS and CSXT suffered damage from submerged signal houses, and both were still dealing with flood conditions in North Carolina early this month. M/w crews were ready with supplies to restore track once the water receded. NS cleared nearly 1,000 downed trees and used 20,000 tons of ballast to repair damage. Both rerouted trains onto each other's tracks. Neither road could immediately estimate damage amounts, nor when clean-up would be completed. Neither suffered major equipment damage.