Status update on damage from Hurricane Sandy to Transportation Infrastructure

The Ports of New York and New Jersey remained closed in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  

Freight railroads operating in the Northeast continue to post progress in their post-Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

On Wednesday, CSX Corp. lifted embargoes on all traffic to all locations with two exceptions: intermodal shipments to the Elizabeth Marine Terminal, Port Newark Container Terminal and New York Container Terminal, and automobile shipments to Doremus, N.J. Portions of lines between Philadelphia and Albany, N.Y, had remained impacted by high water, downed trees and commercial power outages as of late Tuesday.

"Service is resuming slowly, due to continued commercial power outages that affect [our] signals and the inability of some customers to accept shipments," CSX officials said in an online notice. "Heavy snow in the higher elevations of West Virginia also is complicating train operations, but that situation is expected to moderate over the next 24 hours."

In addition, CSX Intermodal has reopened all terminals that were closed due to the storm, the last of which in Kearny, N.J., resumed operation last night.

Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) also is resuming operations in areas deemed safe. Service was being reintroduced into lightly impacted areas yesterday and will continue today, while heavily impacted areas "could experience start-up delays extending through the end of the week," NS officials said in an online notice.

"As operations gradually resume, customers should continue to expect some delays," they said.

Source: Progressive Railroading