JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Rail operations on the CSX Transportation Inc.(CSXT) rail line from New Orleans, La., to Flomaton, Ala., will be suspended for five consecutive days this month, as more than 700 railroad employees descend on the territory to perform track upgrades, highway-rail crossing improvements and bridge replacement or repair.
The engineering “Jamboree,” scheduled for Sunday, March 17, through Thursday, March 21, will enable CSXT to complete in five days what would have taken two months to accomplish if train operations were not suspended. This year’s Jamboree follows the major success of a similar event held on the territory in July 2001.
“This approach to performing major line maintenance and replacement has proven to be highly effective in accomplishing a large amount of work in a relatively short period of time,” said Michael Cantrell, senior vice president-engineering and mechanical. “Instead of working in brief ‘windows’ between train movements, we’re able to have the line to ourselves until the work is completed. The result is increased safety and minimized disruption for our customers and the communities along our railroad.”
The engineering, operations and sales and marketing departments at CSXT have been coordinating the event for months to ensure that rail customers and Amtrak are fully aware of the service suspension and have planned their inventories and work schedules accordingly. The railroad also has coordinated its bridge work with the U.S. Coast Guard and contacted local officials to help ensure that the public knows the project is under way.
For the 2002 Jamboree, 11 tie and rail crews will refurbish track segments between New Orleans and Mobile, and between Mobile and Flomaton, Ala., including 19 miles of rail and the replacement of 56,000 crossties. In addition, bridge teams will replace or repair four bridges.
The bridges, which are located in isolated bayou country and not accessible to the public, would have required about two years to complete using conventional railroad engineering work processes. The track work, meanwhile, would have disrupted rail traffic for two months.
On a typical day, more than 30 trains, including two Amtrak passenger trains, traverse the lines that will be affected by the Jamboree. CSXT will begin to reduce train traffic on the line on Friday, March 15, and by Friday, March 22, train operations will be back to normal. In the meantime, Amtrak has suspended its schedules on the line during the Jamboree.
Also affected by the Jamboree will be line segments between Flomaton and Montgomery, and between Flomaton and Pensacola. Fewer trains will be running on those segments as result of the suspension of operations west of Flomaton. Engineering forces will take advantage of the lighter traffic to perform track work between Flomaton and Montgomery from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., with trains running over the line at night.
Although revenue train operations will cease between New Orleans and Flomaton during the Jamboree, residents throughout the region should remain alert to moving work equipment and trains transporting ballast, the rocky material that supports the rail and ties.
“We can’t emphasize enough the importance of continuing to be very alert to moving rail traffic, particularly at rail-highway crossings,” Cantrell said. “Our maintenance-of-way equipment is brightly colored, but it’s smaller than a train and requires motorists and pedestrians to obey crossing gates and signals, and to stop, look and listen before crossing onto railroad property.”
CSXT and its 35,000 employees provide rail transportation and distribution services over a 23,000 route-mile network in 23 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. CSXT is a business unit of CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX), headquartered in Richmond, Va.
CSXT’s Track Project – March 17-21 By The Numbers
— Route miles of CSXT’s system involved: About 400
— Number of employees working on the project: 700+
— Number of pieces of equipment: 360
— Rail spikes to be used: 600,000+
— Crossties to be replaced: 56,000
— Average number of crossties to be replaced per day: 11,000
— Rail to be replaced: 19 miles
— Bridges to be rebuilt/repaired: 4
— Highway-rail grade crossings to be reworked during for the five-day project: 14
— Average number of trains ordinarily operating in this corridor over five days: About 200