Severe weather leads to service delays for BNSF, CSX and Norfolk Southern

BNSF Railway Co., CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway reported service delays yesterday due to last week's severe weather that caused derailments, track damage and track obscurement. The Class Is are still assessing their infrastructure and implementing recovery plans.

A BNSF train derailed near Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, on April 5 when a bridge it was stopped on was washed out by floodwaters, according a local news report. No injuries were reported. BNSF personnel are assessing the area, BNSF officials said in a customer notification. The track is expected to reopen April 10. 

Meanwhile, CSX’s Southwest region was hit with high winds and heavy rainfall April 3-6. Flooding caused a washout and power outages in the Memphis Subdivision; weather-related conditions slowed traffic into and out of the CC Subdivision, which runs between Hemphill and Bell County, Kentucky, and the Henderson Subdivision, which is near Madisonville, Kentucky, CSX officials said. A flash flood warning announced yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, is interrupting regular service on the mainline, CSX officials said yesterday in a customer advisory. Additionally, a stationary CSX train derailed on April 3 in Hancock County, Ohio, due to strong winds, according to the county sheriff’s office on Facebook. 

“We are actively working to restore normal operations. However, we anticipate temporary delays as we manage these weather-related challenges,” CSX officials said in the advisory.

Meanwhile, NS reported several operational delays and traffic reroutes due to the storms across Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio. Some traffic on the A Line, which runs from Memphis to Pocahontas, Tennessee, will be diverted to avoid impacts from severe rainfall, NS officials announced yesterday in a customer alert. NS halted operations on the W Line between St. Louis and Mt. Vernon, due to flooding. Recovery efforts are underway to restore access. The Class I also is reducing train speeds and patrolling the route along the Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Cincinnati line.