JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Severe flooding that hit the Cumberland, Md., area on Tuesday has shut down key CSX routes, the railroad said in a customer service alert today.
Among the routes affected: The former Baltimore & Ohio main line linking Baltimore and Pittsburgh, which has taken on increased importance as a detour route for traffic affected by the Feb. 1 closure of the Howard Street Tunnel for a clearance project. The line also carries Amtrak’s Chicago-Miami Floridian.
“CSX has plans in place to keep shipments moving, though some delays are expected,” the railroad said, noting that teams are working around the clock to restore service.
The Keystone Subdivision, the former Baltimore & Ohio main line between Cumberland and Pittsburgh, suffered a 200-foot washout affecting both tracks 7 miles west of Cumberland, putting the route out of service between Cumberland and Connellsville, Pa.
The line carries 20 trains per day and is the railroad’s main route linking Baltimore with the Midwest. It also has been serving as a detour for merchandise and coal trains, which bypass the Howard Street Tunnel by going around the horn on a Cumberland-Pittsburgh-Buffalo-Selkirk, N.Y.-Philadelphia routing.
The Cumberland Subdivision, which carries traffic between Cumberland and Brunswick and Baltimore, is out of service due to flooding at Stuart Tunnel, which is 34 miles east of Cumberland.
In neighboring West Virginia, landslides have shut down the Mountain Subdivision between Grafton and Keyser, an important route for trains carrying export metallurgical coal.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari says that train No. 40 that left Miami on Monday and train No. 41 that departed Chicago on Tuesday are delayed due to the track closure. To account for these delays, tonight’s Chicago departure and Saturday’s Miami departure of the Floridian have been cancelled.
The flood-related disruption comes as CSX has been struggling to clear congestion that built up due to a combination of a string of harsh winter storms, spring flooding in the Midwest, the closure of the Howard Street Tunnel, and the rebuilding of the hurricane-damaged Blue Ridge Subdivision.
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