NS rail lines from Georgia to West Virginia still down after Helene

Key Norfolk Southern corridors operational again, but sections of Southeastern network remain out of service

Satellite imagery captures Hurricane Helene swirling over Florida. (Shutterstock/OSORIOartist)

This story first appeared on Trains.com.

ATLANTA — Norfolk Southern crews have been out across the network tending to widespread damage caused by Hurricane Helene, but rail service is still suspended across many lines from Georgia to West Virginia.

Railroad crews are spending Monday clearing trees across a 70-mile section of its Brunswick District between Macon, Georgia, and Brunswick, Georgia, and unprecedented floods have wiped out rail service east and west of Asheville, North Carolina, 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, West Virginia, and Norton, Virginia, and in the South, rail service between Augusta, Georgia, and Millen, Georgia, and up to Columbia, South Carolina, is still out of service due to downed power lines.

The railroad notes it has made significant progress restoring service across key parts of its network, including arteries between Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Jacksonville, Florida, through Atlanta, and between Birmingham, Alabama, and Charlotte, North Carolina, also through Atlanta. The railroad has also restored service between Macon and Savannah, Georgia, in the Savannah District.

The railroad will continue providing additional customer updates as other lines are restored.

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