Hurricane Irma: Freight railroads hold traffic, stage equipment for recovery

Norfolk Southern Railway, CSX and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) spent the weekend monitoring the impact of Hurricane Irma on Florida and the Southeast Coast.

According to service advisories issued yesterday:
• FEC suspended all mainline and local train service; all FEC terminals are closed; and pickups and deliveries for FEC highway services are not being accepted until further notice;
• CSX engineering prepared potentially impacted areas, including staging compressors, generators, ballast and work equipment;
• NS held Southeast-bound traffic at yards throughout its southern system. NS also issued embargoes for those locations and staged resources — including ballast trains, equipment and generators — to begin storm recovery efforts when it's safe to do so.

Meanwhile, three Texas/Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Disaster Recovery Centers will open today in the cities of Katy, Baytown and Houston to assist in recovery from Hurricane Harvey, according to a news release issued by the Federal Transit Administration.

Recovery specialists from FEMA, U.S. Small Business Administration, the state and other agencies will be available at the centers to offer guidance in filling out applications for recovery assistance.