Written by Jane Winik Sartwell, Carolina Public Press.
Asheville’s train has come. Norfolk Southern, Western North Carolina’s primary rail carrier, resumed rail service from Tennessee into Asheville on May 20. Those trains are the first the mountains have seen since Tropical Storm Helene left tracks utterly destroyed last year.
Plus, plans for a passenger rail line to Asheville are back on the table.
The repair work on the region’s rail network is far from over. But industries which rely on rail as a cost-effective way to deliver huge amounts of heavy material by train are celebrating.
Think Baxter, the major IV bag manufacturer in McDowell County. Or the high-purity quartz miners in Mitchell County. Or Silverline Plastics in Buncombe County. Even Sierra Nevada Brewing in Henderson County.
During those eight months without rail service, those companies and many others faced significant supply chain disruptions.
“For companies that use rail, trucks are just not a viable alternative,” Ashley Swanger, director of industry services at the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, told Carolina Public Press.
Hauling hope
Some hope that restored railroads will attract more major manufacturing companies to Western North Carolina — not simply restoring the level of industry that existed before the storm, but actually growing the economy.
“The railroad system is an incredibly important thing for businesses that are deciding where to locate,” said Jason Orthner, director of the rail division at the North Carolina Department of Transportation. “Rail is a funnel for both raw materials and finished products to move in and out of the region in a cost-competitive, high-volume way.”
Others are just comforted by hearing the sound of a train horn and the rumble of the tracks after eight months of silence.
Restoration on the major Norfolk Southern line — in addition to millions of dollars in state funding — has allowed short-line railroads like Blue Ridge Southern Railroad and the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, a major tourist draw, to resume service as well.
“It was a Herculean effort by these railroad companies to restore service,” Orthner said.
“We’re so excited to see these companies commit to rebuilding the system — so much of the economy in Western North Carolina relies on it.”
Norfolk Southern cautions that rail traffic will return at a higher level than residents are accustomed to, and warns people to be mindful around the tracks.
“In the aftermath of this storm, anything returning to normal makes me happy,” Swanger said. “Even if it causes traffic, or it’s a bit of a headache, it’s just nice to see things coming back.”
The work that remains
As it stands now, however, rail recovery is incomplete.
CSX, another major rail company, operates a rail line between Erwin, Tennessee and Spruce Pine, North Carolina. Flooding and landslides along the Nolichucky River ripped away railbeds and bridges. 60 miles of track remains unusable.
Before the storm, that corridor handled 14 million gross tons of freight per year. Service is not expected to resume until the fall, at a cost of $600 million.
Much work remains for Norfolk Southern as well.
Though the company restored track heading west, there is still no route for trains to run east out of Asheville, toward the state’s major cities and ports. Before the first train can take that route, Norfolk Southern will have to restore the Old Fort Loops, a 16-mile, mountain-climbing portion of track east of Asheville.
“There is track around Old Fort that’s literally just hanging in the air,” said Ray Rapp, who serves as chair of the Western North Carolina Rail Committee.
For a long time, Norfolk Southern played its cards close to its chest concerning the plan for the Old Fort Loops. The assessments dragged on.
It seemed possible that the damage was just too great to rebuild.
“This section of the line is very technical,” Heather Garcia, spokesperson for Norfolk Southern, told CPP.
“In addition to significant elevation changes, the washouts and topography changes in this area mean we are, in some places, having to rebuild the ground underneath the tracks.”
Norfolk Southern only recently announced its intention to rebuild that historic section of track, with an investment of $64 million. The company is in the process of hiring construction workers, and hopes to have it restored by winter.
Train story in Western NC enters new chapter
The planned restoration of the Old Fort Loops means that conversations around a much-anticipated project can resume: passenger rail service to the mountains.
The last passenger train left Asheville 50 years ago. Now it may return.
An Amtrak line connecting Asheville and Salisbury — which would run three round-trips per day — could be operational as soon as 2034.
“People like me, who travel to Raleigh on a fairly frequent basis, would love to have a rail option out of Asheville,” Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, told CPP.
“On the business side, it would be a real boon to tourism. Folks could just spend the day. The logistical challenges are difficult, and I’ve heard that it’s going to take quite a while — the storm certainly didn’t help — but I think people would love it. I think people would use it.”
NCDOT estimates the cost of restoring passenger rail along this 139-mile track at around $650 million. The state has secured a grant from the Federal Railroad Administration for the project.
It’s a major undertaking, but the economic boost train passengers could provide to the mountains is considerable.
“We are so, so excited,” Rapp said.
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.