Emergency Project Management Support to Reopen a Vital Rail Connector After a Natural Disaster

• Emergency response to rapidly assess damage and mobilize a project team for recovery and reconstruction
• Strategic public engagement effort to build trust and provide transparency to surrounding communities
• Resilient infrastructure design to reduce flood risks and improve long-term performance
• Reopening of vital freight corridor in under a year

The CSX Blue Ridge Subdivision carries more than 14 million gross tons of freight each year, serving as a vital connection for businesses in the southeastern United States. But when Hurricane Helene barreled in from the Atlantic in September 2024, a 60-mile stretch of the rail corridor in Tennessee and North Carolina was severely damaged by flooding triggered by the storm.

Some of the worst damage was in the Nolichucky River Gorge, where 8 miles of track was stripped down to the bedrock, embankments were washed out and two bridges destroyed. As a result, freight service through the subdivision was halted by CSX.

Emergency Support

CSX turned to HDR for support to rapidly assess the corridor’s condition and help respond to the emergency. Within two days, HDR’s initial damage assessments confirmed the loss of two bridges. Ongoing evaluations identified additional damage to track, embankments, walls and drainage systems.

To support CSX with restoring service safely and swiftly, recovery planning and repair work began immediately. HDR quickly assembled a multidisciplinary team to support CSX’s emergency response. The team brought together structural, geotechnical and bridge engineers, hydraulic and drainage specialists, strategic communication professionals, landscape architects, environmental scientists, and construction managers to collaborate and address every stage of the crisis.

An early priority was supporting the safe removal of track material from the Nolichucky River and stabilizing washed-out embankments to restore access to the corridor for contractors and equipment needed during reconstruction.

Public Engagement Strategy

Clear communication was essential to the response. As technical work began, the project team understood the importance of clear and consistent messaging to build trust with residents, elected officials and other community stakeholders.

Our strategic communications professionals set up on site and met with residents, business owners and community leaders to understand local priorities. The team provided CSX leadership with daily insights into community reaction and concerns to inform decision-making. We also supported CSX’s state and government relations efforts with consistent messaging, providing elected officials and regulatory agencies with timely updates, and regular engagement at various phases with all stakeholders.

A key part of this public engagement effort was documenting the necessary steps that CSX was taking to recover, repair and reopen the Blue Ridge Subdivision. Our team regularly developed content and project updates for CSX’s public-facing project website, translating complex technical updates into accessible information. In addition, we guided CSX’s participation and sponsorship of community events traditionally supported by local businesses, including organizing a toy and essential goods drive and donating needed supplies.

Rebuilding With Resiliency

Sustainability and resiliency were priorities in the reconstruction effort. HDR’s engineering teams worked closely with CSX to redesign both bridges in the Nolichucky Gorge, develop corridor hardening ideas that supported rail reuse, and improve hydraulics and drainage.

At the Tennessee and North Carolina state line, we redesigned the State Line Bridge with higher elevation and modern features to improve durability and reduce maintenance. This 60-foot span was reconstructed and made functional in less than two months. Restoring this crossing opened critical access to the rest of the gorge for reconstruction.

Six miles upriver, our bridge engineers redesigned the 100-year-old Poplar Bridge, which had been knocked off its foundation and pushed into the river by flooding. The design reused four of the bridge’s six original spans recovered from the river, upgraded them to modern ballast decks, elevated the piers, and wrapped them in a protective fiber material to protect against future flooding. To maintain the project schedule and improve constructability, the redesigned structure incorporated a seventh span and new pier guards to keep the original length while increasing lateral resistance to heavy river flows.

To safeguard the rebuilt corridor from erosion, our geotechnical specialists contributed to the design of various walls including a nearly mile-long retaining wall using rail piles and precast panels to stabilize track embankments along the gorge. On the outside bend of the river, we designed a new timber wall to stabilize a 25-foot sheer rock cliff that had been prone to repeated washouts. In addition, a damaged cast-in-place concrete wall was replaced with precast extensions. The wall includes an integrated drainage system created by our hydraulics professionals that improves water passage and diverts it to nearby waterfalls.

Reopening the Rail

Once stabilization was finished and new infrastructure in place, the more resilient and sustainable Blue Ridge Subdivision rebuild was complete. CSX restored service on September 25, 2025, just a day shy of the one-year mark after Hurricane Helene made landfall in the U.S.