advertisement

---

CSX Transportation has scheduled its second — and largest-ever — "Jamboree" for the year. On June 29, the railroad plans to begin a 10-day track maintenance "blitz" on its mainline between Elkhorn City, Ky., and Greenwood, S.C.


During the Jamboree, CSXT plans to install more than 170,000 feet of rail and 181,000 ties, surface 195 track miles, and rebuild bridges, tunnels and hundreds of grade crossings. The project will involve 16 tie, rail, bridge and other teams comprising more than 900 workers.


CSXT plans to shutdown the line during the project and reroute traffic via other railroads and gateways, which could lengthen transit times 24 to 48 hours, according to a prepared statement. The Class I expects service to return to normal July 9.


Under a typical 12-hour curfew, the work would take CSXT more than 20 weeks to complete, the railroad said.


CSXT recently scheduled a Jamboree for March 17-20 to rehabilitate mainlines between Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans, and between Flomaton and Montgomery, Ala.


Eleven tie and rail gangs comprising more than 700 employees plan to work around the clock installing 79,000 ties and 150,000 feet of rail, rebuilding a 900-foot-long bridge, surfacing 71 track miles and reconstructing numerous crossings.


In 1999, a CSXT machine operator coined the term "Jamboree" during a smaller-scale track maintenance project on the railroad's Chicago-to-Evanston, Ind., line.


Since then, the Class I has conducted several Jamborees each year, including one in July 2001 that required 13 tie, rail, curve-patch and bridge gangs comprising more than 800 workers — CSXT's largest Jamboree to date.