Two hurricanes in two weeks prompt short liners to again call for a disaster relief fund
10/22/2024
By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor
Two deadly hurricanes in two weeks in the southeastern United States again have raised the idea in many short-line railroaders’ minds that Congress should create a fund to help small railroads rebuild and recover following natural disasters.
Short lines generally are ineligible for disaster relief funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Although railroads carry insurance, many small railroads cannot get coverage for the kind of destruction that occurs in hurricanes. As small businesses with very high capital costs, short lines have limited resources to deal with such events.
The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) has been backing U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds’ (R-Fla.) proposed Short Line Railroad Relief Act (H.R. 3782), a bill that would authorize the creation of a fund to help short lines recover when hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters. Donalds introduced the bill in 2023 as railroads like the Seminole Gulf Railway struggled to recover from catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Steven Hawkins’ 15-year-old son Spencer (wearing Freedom t-shirt) and Spencer’s friend Walter Hazel, age 16, helped Hawkins’ crew remove downed trees on Western Carolina Railway Service Corp.’s two short lines after Hurricane Helene blew through the Carolinas. Steven HawkinsThe association also has suggested that Congress appropriate funds directly to the FRA in a disaster supplemental measure that would provide emergency funds after a natural disaster.
Grant programs exist for the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Association, but not the Federal Railroad Administration, according to ASLRRA. The Small Business offers disaster loans, but they’re loans that capped at a level that doesn’t usually cover the high cost of rebuilding rail infrastructure, association officials say.
Additionally, last week President Biden announced the SBA’s disaster loan program has run out of money because of the devastation caused by Helene and Milton. Damage estimates are still being calculated; however, government and private officials say they likely will cost more than $50 billion.
A heavy impact on small railroads
Meanwhile, short lines across the southeast are still cleaning up from the most recent storms. Many are likely to try to cover their cleanup and recovery costs themselves. Among them is the Western Carolina Railway Service Corp. (WCRS), which operates two rail lines totaling 32 miles in South Carolina: the Greenville & Western Railway operates its 13 miles within Anderson County, serving upstate South Carolina markets; and Aiken Railway, which operates its 19 miles within Aiken County. Greenville & Western can access both CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway lines; Aiken Railway is served by NS.
Both the Greenville & Western and the Aiken Railway were “heavily impacted” when Hurricane Helene hit South Carolina on Sept. 27, according to Steven Hawkins, WCRS president and CEO. Hawkins owns the company with his wife, Cheryl.
A fallen tree blocks rail service for the Greenville & Western Railway, a short line, and CSX in Pelzer, South Carolina. Steven HawkinsSouth Carolina was among the states hardest hit by Helene, which brought high winds, downed trees, torrential rains and flooding. More than 2 million homes lost power, and many remained without it for a week. The state’s death toll blamed on Helene reached 51 as of Oct. 7, according to South Carolina Public Radio.
Hawkins has seen and dealt with storm damage — primarily downed trees — on his rail lines over his 21 years of self-employed railroading. But nothing compares to what Hurricane Helene left in its wake.
“I’m 54 years old and this by far is the worst storm impact that we’ve ever had — and not just from a railroad perspective, but in this region. It’s been overwhelming,” says Hawkins.
Heavy winds took down hundreds of trees and numerous power lines on both railroads, he says. Even before the storm had receded, it was all “hands on deck” for WCRS employees and their family and friends, Hawkins says. Armed with chain saws and a rail trackhoe, they cleared trees on 10 miles of Greenville & Western’s mainline and 1 mile of CSX track — and helped move 28 stranded rail cars — in four days. Meanwhile, two WCRS crew members cleared 14 miles of Aiken Railroad lines over six days. Hundreds of fallen trees littered the railroads’ rail lines, Hawkins says.
“To get it all done, I just tapped the resources we had. We used train service employees, two transload employees at a subsidiary, my youngest son and his girlfriend’s brother — basically, anyone I could put my hands on — and we jumped in with backhoes and chain saws to cut trees,” Hawkins says. “It’s not a very glamorous story, but it was a backbreaking story.”
All that work was hampered by a commercial power outage, fuel shortages, lack of internet service, washed out roadways and unreliable cellphone connections, according to Hawkins.
Some downed trees along the railroads’ right of way were too large for Hawkins and his crew to move themselves, so he’ll be hiring a contractor to come in with additional equipment to grind up tree trunks; in some locations the mulched wood will have to be hauled away because it will foul ditch lines. Hawkins estimates the contracted work, clearing the debris plus repairs to a drainage structure are likely to cost about $130,000.
“Right now, it is our intention to simply take small bits at it over a long period of time to make it affordable,” he adds. He estimates the timeline to complete all the cleanup and repair is about seven weeks.
Counting one’s blessings
Although WCRS was able to restart rail service within days (Greenville & Western by Oct. 1 and Aiken by Oct. 4) and faces tens of thousands of dollars in cleanup costs, Hawkins is counting his blessings. No one in his family or his employees’ families lost their lives or their homes.
“It’s been overwhelming,” Hawkins says of the destruction. “But in all fairness, 30 miles from where we are, it’s 100 times worse.”
While immediately removed from the worst hit areas in the Carolinas, trucks attempting to get through areas to deliver fuel, products and other supplies to businesses in less-hit areas can’t make their deliveries due to the destruction of roads, highways and bridges. Some businesses waiting for those deliveries to produce their products are railroad customers.
“There’s a trucking company out of Spruce Pine [in North Carolina] that handles bulk and they can’t get product to their customers 60 miles away because the roads no longer exist,” Hawkins says. “You might not think that affects us, but it does. The railroads have a footprint that’s broader than the miles we serve.”
Hawkins recently wrote to ASLRRA President Chuck Baker to describe the hurricane’s impact on the Aiken Railway and ask that Baker let the FRA know of the short line’s resilience. Prior to the hurricane, WCRS applied for a $4.3 million federal grant under the FRA’s latest round of Critical Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) funding to pay for critical infrastructure improvements at Aiken. In his Oct. 9 letter to Baker, Hawkins noted that Helene was the second time in a year that the short line has “fought through” a tropical storm or hurricane recovery on its own.
“[T]he events of last week have driven home the urgency and importance of receiving these grant funds to stabilize and minimize impacts from future catastrophic weather events,” Hawkins wrote in his letter to Baker.
In addition to communicating Aiken Railway’s recovery story to the FRA, Hawkins hopes the ASLRRA also will continue to advocate for a disaster relief fund for short lines. In WCRS’ case, the cost to recover from Helene “comes out of our cash, which is painful,” Hawkins says.
Still, Hawkins isn’t yet ready to call it a day on his 34-year career in railroading.
“It’s in my blood,” he says. “After a storm, we just get up, dust ourselves off and go back to work.”