Preparations are underway for the severe impacts expected as Hurricane Katrina makes landfall on the US Gulf Coast. CN service south of McComb, MS has been discontinued this afternoon, August 28. Traffic enroute to the affected region is being held. CN has issued an embargo through the Association of American Railroads (AAR) restricting all carload and intermodal traffic moving to destinations south of Osyka, MS, effective immediately.CN moved its MOW equipment out last night. Katrina is a Catagory 5 stom and is expected to cause major damage around New Orleans. CN service might be disrupted for a while...
Railroad Forums
Hurricane Katrina Shuts Down CN
- Discussion relating to the Canadian National, past and present. Also includes discussion of Illinois Central and Grand Trunk Western and other subsidiary roads (including Bessemer & Lake Erie and the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range Railway). Official site: WWW.CN.CA
- CN's US Region personnel have made tremendous progress, under very difficult circumstances, towards reopening key sections of the railroad affected by Hurricane Katrina. By late today (Wednesday August 31), it is anticipated that limited service will be re-established between the Baton Rouge/Geismar/Remy LA industrial complex, and the balance of CN's network. As well, service to and from Ferguson MS has been re-established today. We will be working with our interline partner railroads today to develop alternate routings for traffic that is normally interchanged at the New Orleans gateway.
- Our people are assessing the work and time required to re-establish service to Mobile AL, to Bogalusa MS, and to Reserve, Destrehan, and New Orleans LA.
- Customers in the affected areas (Jackson MS and points south) are asked to provide their urgent switching and traffic requests to CN's Jackson Transportation Center at 800-426-1903. Since telephone service in the area is still sporadic, please feel free to contact our Homewood IL Customer Support team at 800-342-5424 if you are unable to reach Jackson.
- Intermodal customers are required to contact the Winnipeg Customer Support Centre, by using the normal contact numbers for domestic and import/export shipments.
Please don't hesitate to contact your Customer Support Representative or to use your regular channels to obtain more detailed information on specific shipments.
Joan Hardy
Senior Director,
CN Customer Service
- LASTEST UPDATE - - CN has lifted its embargoes on the following four stations: Baton Rouge, Geismar, Hammond in Louisiana and Ferguson Mississippi. We are continuing to hold traffic destined for the remaining embargoed areas. To view the latest embargoes, please select the "Click here to view the Association of American Railroads" on the right-hand side of this page.
CN Service Update 9/2/05
- The route from Jackson MS to Baton Rouge LA via Hammond LA is now in service. Some issues remain with commercial power and communications systems.
- The route from Baton Rouge LA to Mays Yard (New Orleans) LA is expected to reopen today (Friday 02 September). Considerable issues remain with commercial power and communications systems. Many customer facilities have yet to reopen due to power, communication, work force availability, and/or Mississippi River navigation issues. For this reason, the following stations remain under embargo:
New Orleans LA, Destrehan LA, Reserve LA, Remy LA, Convent LA
- The route between Ferguson MS and our main line at Brookhaven MS is now in service.
- The route from the main line at Brookhaven MS to Natchez MS is expected to be returned to service within the next 24 to 48 hours. Natchez will remain under embargo until the line reopens.
- The route between the main line and Bogalusa LA is expected to be returned to service within the next 24 hours; Bogalusa will remain under embargo until the line reopens.
- The route from Jackson MS to Mobile AL is in service between Jackson and Hattiesburg MS. It is expected that the remainder of this line will be reopened within the next 24 hours.
- It is expected that the route between Taylorsville MS and our main line at Saratoga MS will be reopened within the next 24 hours.
- The direct route between Hammond LA and New Orleans LA remains out of service, with considerable track restoration work required. An estimated return to service date for this line segment will be provided in a subsequent update. Traffic moving to and from the affected areas will be subject to delays until this line is restored.
CN has reopened its main line to hammond.
Saw a train full of MOW equipment headed south the other day...
Saw a train full of MOW equipment headed south the other day...
CN reopened its main line into New Orleans today, Mays yard is operating normaly, but their intermodal ramps remain closed...