As Hurricane Idalia passes through the Southeast and heads out to the Atlantic Ocean, CSX is “evaluating the impacts” of the storm on its rail network and implementing service recovery plans, the railroad said in a service update late Wednesday.
Idalia hit the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 3 hurricane on Wednesday. It was later downgraded to a tropical storm and pummeled Florida and southeast Georgia. The National Hurricane Center is now forecasting that Idalia is heading out to sea, with the storm’s eye projected to be well over the Atlantic Ocean by early Friday morning.
Customers will receive additional advisories should conditions warrant, CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) said. Strong winds and high water and flooding are concerns.
For now, though, CSX said operations have been temporarily suspended along CSX’s Interstate 95 route through Georgia and South Carolina until the railroad can assess the full extent of the storm’s impact.
CSX has also been clearing tracks, checking signals and crossings, and performing repairs as needed.
CSX had temporarily ceased operations on the Bow Line between Waycross, Georgia, and Thomasville, Georgia/Dothan, Alabama, and halted operations on one of five humps at the hump yard in Waycross, Georgia. But both areas have since resumed operations. Line of road operations have also resumed on the Manchester/Fitzgerald subdivision from Jacksonville, Florida/Waycross, Georgia to mid-Georgia), which experienced a 16-hour outage, CSX said.
“CSX crews are committed to working effectively with customers to ensure safe service restoration as quickly as possible,” CSX said in its service advisory.
Subscribe to FreightWaves’ e-newsletters and get the latest insights on freight right in your inbox.
Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Joanna Marsh.
