Railroads on high alert as Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida 

Norfolk Southern (NS) is operating as normal but is closely monitoring the storm, noting that high winds and heavy rains could impact rail operations in north Florida.

Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in the Tampa Bay area Wednesday evening as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds greater than 110 mph.

This would put Regional Rail’s Port Manatee Railroad and CSX’s Tampa-Orlando operations through Lakeland, Florida, and Winter Haven, Florida, in the direct path of the hurricane. Short-line railroads Florida Midland at Winter Haven and the Florida Central in Orlando could see heavy rains and localized flooding as Milton pushes east on Thursday.

The storm is expected to remain a Category 1 hurricane as it reaches the Atlantic Coast along the Florida East Coast Railway on Thursday.

Milton arrives less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene, a Category 4, made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast and caused record flooding across the Appalachians. 

CSX and NS rail lines are still out of service in western North Carolina and will likely remain that way for weeks as unprecedented flooding washed away large sections of roadbed and at least two railroad bridges on CSX’s former Clinchfield Railroad between Erwin, Tennessee, and Spartanburg, South Carolina, and NS’ former Southern Railway S-Line west and east of Asheville, North Carolina.