Railpace Staff Report/photos as noted
Severe storms pummeled the Hudson Valley just north of New York City on Sunday evening, July 9, 2023, washing out the CSX River Subdivision tracks at Fort Montgomery New York, just north of the Bear Mountain Bridge. The line was closed due to at least two washouts in Fort Montgomery, directly across the Hudson River from Metro-North’s Hudson Line, which sustained major damage in Manitou. A northbound CSX manifest train was stranded at Fort Montgomery, with a washout just ahead.
The severe supercell thunderstorm dropped a large amount of rain in the area between Stony Point and Newburgh, New York which caused devastating flash flooding. As a result of the tracks washing out, the River Sub.was taken out of service for two days so emergency repairs could be made. Two ballast trains were dispatched on Tuesday, July 11 to help fill in washouts so that traffic could be restored.
ABOVE: A ballast train was called out of New Jersey and is seen dumping stone just north of the Bear Mountain Bridge, visible in the distance, July 11, 2023. —Colton Fox photo
Villages between Fort Montgomery and West Point saw major flooding which washed away several houses and roads between Route 9W and the Hudson River. Mine Dock Road, which leads to the popular Mine Dock Park, was severely washed out. A very alert CSX crew of a northbound manifest was able to stop short of a washout that occurred at milepost 44, which undercut both the main track and the passing siding at Fort Montgomery. At milepost 50 in West Point, a major mudslide covered and damaged the single main track with large amounts of muddy debris.
After examining the damage, CSX immediately ran two emergency ballast trains to the scene, Train W095 from North Bergen, and Train W065 from Selkirk. The River Line was reopened in 40 hours, however many roads leading to the Bear Mountain area, such as the Palisades Parkway, Route 9W, on the west shore of the Hudson, and the Route 9 “goat trail” approach to the Bear Mountain Bridge on the Westchester County (east) side remained closed due to storm damage as of four days after the storm…