Not a single train has chugged through Asheville for nearly two months now. Western North Carolina’s rail network was badly damaged, and in some cases destroyed, by Tropical Storm Helene.
Empty, mangled tracks have left many businesses without the train-delivered supplies on which they rely.
The cost of damaged rail infrastructure is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Jason Orthner, director of the state Department of Transportation’s rail division, told Carolina Public Press.
Even if all that money was provided by the legislature’s next relief bill, repairing the train tracks is no simple task. In many cases, washed-out roads and landslides have prevented crews from accessing the tracks at all.
It will be difficult to estimate just how big of an economic toll the near-total loss of rail transport will have on the area. Loss of cheap and fast access to basic, bulky supplies like grain and timber is a reality that modern cities rarely have to face. The spillover impacts of this supply chain breakdown will handicap Asheville and surrounding areas for months to come.
Norfolk Southern’s AS Line
Western North Carolina’s railroads are owned and operated by Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation, and Watco Rail, though Norfolk Southern is the primary rail carrier. Its AS Line runs from Salisbury to Morristown, Tennessee, through Asheville, crossing the Eastern Continental Divide through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Damage to the line was extensive: 21,500 feet of washed out track, 50,000 feet of scour-damaged track, 15,000 feet of fill failures and slides, and more than a few damaged bridges. Still, Norfolk Southern had opened portions of the track by Oct. 9.
The Asheville area was not so lucky. The portion of the line around Asheville and Black Mountain was “completely destroyed,” according to Heather Garcia, a spokesperson for Norfolk Southern. Ninety-five miles of their track are still out of service in the area.
The company estimates that the portion of the line running east from Newport through Asheville and out to Grovestone will reopen in April 2025. Assessments of the track between Grovestone and Old Fort are still ongoing, and the company does not know how long that restoration will take.
“Due to the remote nature and mountain topography of the region, coupled with the conditions following the storm and subsequent flooding, Norfolk Southern teams had difficulty assessing damage along portions of the line around Asheville and over Black Mountain,” Garcia told CPP in an email.
Some are concerned that Norfolk Southern may not restore the line between Old Fort and Asheville at all, though the company did not indicate this was a possibility.
The portion of track near Old Fort is commonly referred to as the Old Fort Loops. The 11-mile track climbs a mountain, running a distance of only three miles as the crow flies.
“There is track around Old Fort that’s literally just hanging in the air,” Ray Rapp, who serves as chair of the Western North Carolina Rail Committee, told CPP.
Rapp’s committee advocates for passenger rail lines in Western North Carolina — the last passenger train left Asheville in July 1975.
“(Norfolk Southern) is asking around $20 million from the legislature to restore that portion,” Rapp said.
“They are not, as I understand it, currently working on the Old Fort Loops, and from the standpoint of the Western North Carolina Rail Committee, that is critical. Without that restoration of that portion of the Asheville-Salisbury line, we can’t have rail service to Asheville, so we’re very anxious for Norfolk Southern to step up and restore that.”
Other rail lines
Blue Ridge Southern, a 91-mile line operated by Watco that runs west out of Asheville, is out of service, as is the CSX line that runs from Erwin, Tennessee, into Spruce Pine.
Sixty miles of CSX’s Blue Ridge Subdivision sustained serious damage, according to CSX spokesperson Sheerie Bowman.
The line handles approximately 14 million tons of freight annually. Early estimates indicate that costs to rebuild will exceed $200 million, and rebuilding efforts will continue into next year.
“CSX is committed to continue working collaboratively with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, USDA Forestry Service, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, state and federal agencies, as well as the community to ensure the rail infrastructure is recovered and restored in the safest and most environmentally responsible way,” Bowman told CPP in an email.
Economic impact of limited rail
“West of Asheville, the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad is a huge economic driver for tourism,” DOT rail division director Orthner said. “It supports lots of rail tourist activity, but it’s also part of the national rail network.”
Rail companies hope that the next legislative relief package will provide the funds they need to get restorations underway. Rapp estimates that Watco alone needs $17 million.
“All kinds of businesses, from breweries to construction companies to pharmaceutical companies rely on railroads to ship their products in an economically- and environmentally-sensitive way,” Orthner said.
The challenges of repairing rail infrastructure are similar to those of repairing roadways. Simply accessing damaged areas is difficult, not to mention getting construction vehicles and materials out to the tracks. To add insult to injury, many of the materials needed for this repair are traditionally transported by train.
In the meantime, businesses have had to increase reliance on truck transportation to get supplies into the area. But many roads in the area are not yet cleared for 18-wheelers, so it isn’t a reliable replacement. Plus, one rail car can hold three to four truckloads worth of freight.
“Some industries may not feel much of an impact but others certainly will,” UNC Asheville economics professor Leah Matthews told CPP.
“The local brewing industry is one that is certainly feeling an impact — companies like Sierra Nevada Brewing depend on rail to get their grain to Western North Carolina. They also lost several railcars worth of grain due to the storm — that’s another niche example of the variety of losses. If rail is not an option, grain needs to be trucked in. This means more road traffic, congestion and wear and tear until rail returns.”
This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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