Trains' top stories of 2025: No. 3, CSX’s big projects

Railroad completes Howard Street Tunnel clearance work in Baltimore, rebuilding of flood-devastated former Clinchfield Railroad

A ceremonial CSX double-stack train rolls toward the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore on Sept. 26, 2025. Port of Baltimore

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX made headlines in the fall when it completed a pair of massive projects within weeks of each other: The opening of the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore after a long-awaited double-stack clearance project, and the rebuilding of the hurricane-damaged Blue Ridge Subdivision in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.

CSX shut down the Howard Street Tunnel — a key link in its Interstate 95 Corridor along the East Coast, as well as for its Baltimore-Chicago corridor — on Feb. 1.

The railroad had to detour the 16 to 20 trains that used the tunnel on a typical day while workers lowered the floor of the 1.7-mile tunnel beneath downtown Baltimore. CSX opted for a total shutdown rather than the original plan to use 12-hour work windows every day for three years.

A CSX employee walks through the 3,400-foot section of the Howard Street Tunnel where the floor had been lowered as of early July. CSX

CSX marked completion of the tunnel work with a Sept. 26 ceremony in Baltimore.

The project also involved bridge work in Baltimore. Once the final two bridges are cleared in early 2026, CSX will be able to run double-stack trains from New Jersey to Florida for the first time. It also opens up a more direct route for intermodal traffic moving between Baltimore and the Midwest via the former Baltimore & Ohio main line, rather than the roundabout route via Philadelphia, Selkirk, N.Y., and Buffalo, N.Y.

The $450 million project was delivered through a partnership between CSX, the State of Maryland, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The railroad has projected that the project could generate up to 125,000 new intermodal loads annually. The Port of Baltimore expects the project to lead to 160,000 containers moving through the port.

With Clinchfield Railroad heritage unit No. 1902 in the lead, a CSX coal train breaks a blue ribbon to celebrate the reopening of the Blue Ridge Subdivision. CSX

CSX on Oct. 2 officially celebrated the reopening of the Blue Ridge Subdivision, nearly a year to the day after Hurricane Helene destroyed large portions of the former Clinchfield Railroad main line in rugged eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.

The route reopened the weekend of Sept. 22, almost a year to the day after historic flooding spawned by Hurricane Helene almost completely destroyed 60 miles of the former Clinchfield Railroad.

The route, which carries more than 14 million tons of freight each year, is one of four north-south corridors on CSX. Restoration of the line strengthens CSX’s network resiliency, providing added capacity and flexibility to keep freight moving efficiently, the railroad said.

Upgrades to the subdivision included rebuilding the 530‑foot Poplar Bridge with a modern ballast‑deck design for better clearance and to mitigate future potential weather impacts. Four out of the six original 95-foot spans were salvaged and reused.

CSX also rebuilt the Devil’s Creek bridge, which crosses the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee, reinforced key structures such as retaining walls, and upgraded drainage systems throughout the entire Nolichucky Gorge and in several locations outside of the gorge.

Restoring the Blue Ridge Subdivision, which cost more than $500 million, was one of the largest rail recovery projects in CSX’s history.