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Instead of three months, it took eight days for Norfolk Southern Corp. workers to complete a $16.2 million trackwork project in southwestern Pennsylvania earlier this month. From July 3-10, the Class I conducted a “blitz” on a major Monongahela Valley coal route to condense maintenance-of-way (MOW) work into a short timeframe.

More than 400 MOW and structures department employees from across the railroad's system laid 29 miles of new rail, resurfaced nearly 69 miles of track, replaced three bridge decks and improved signals.

The project, which included four work trains and 95 pieces of large machinery, coincided with coal miners' annual summer break, providing an eight-day window to complete work that usually would take 90 days to accomplish under normal operating conditions, NS officials said in a prepared statement. Each day, about 30 trains use the Monongahela Valley route, which serves five coal mines.

“There's an extraordinary amount of planning, organization and teamwork that goes into making this a success," said NS Vice President of Engineering Tim Drake, adding that employees worked under extreme conditions and in hot weather to complete the project.