CSX capped off annual track maintenance 'Jamboree' on July 7

More than 525 workers recently replaced about 68,000 ties and 200,000 feet of rail, and surfaced 120 miles of track as part of CSX Transportation's "Maintenance Jamboree."

The annual track maintenance blitz accomplishes about a year's worth of rail, tie, signal and bridge work in one week to reduce impacts on customers and communities, CSX officials said in a press release. The Class I has conducted a blitz each year since 1999, when a machine operator coined the term "Jamboree" to describe the mass gathering of maintenance-of-way crews and equipment in one area.

Conducted from June 30 to July 7, this year's $25 million Jamboree focused on track and bridges across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Trackwork was concentrated on key routes between Shelby, Ky., and Greenwood, S.C., and from Bostic to Monroe, N.C. CSX crews also converted several open-deck bridges to more modern concrete-ballast decks.

"The annual Maintenance Jamboree is one more example of CSX's commitment to investing in both the safety and reliability of our network to better serve our customers and the communities in which we operate," said Oscar Munoz, CSX's executive vice president and chief operating officer.