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CSX issued a Customer Advisory on Sunday, January 25, advising to expect temporary delays in areas most affected by the storm. Priority was given to intermodal and other essential trains. On Wednesday, January 28, CSX intermodal train I036 ran on schedule, seen at milepost 99 on the RF&P Subdivision as it approached the summit of Franconia Hill south of Alexandria at sunrise. The Washington D.C. area Metrorail system’s Blue Line is situated behind the trees on the right.

Winter Storm FERN

Alex Mayes/photos by the author

WINTER STORM FERN caused major delays in the Mid-Atlantic region during late January. The storm began its trek through the Washington, D.C . area on Saturday night, January 24, and ended during the afternoon of the following day. Total snow accumulation was eight inches in the D.C.–Northern Virginia area with an inch-thick crust of ice from freezing rain on the top, which made walking and driving dangerous. Temperatures in the teens at night and below freezing during the day for the following week had a major impact on the local rail systems causing reductions in service and cancellations.

ABOVE: Amtrak Northeast Regional train 95 arrives the station in Alexandria, Virginia on time, Tuesday, January 27. This train originated at Penn Station, New York and is en route to Norfolk, Virginia. Leading the seven-car train is ALC-42 Charger 366, built by Siemens for Amtrak long-distance service.

Amtrak preemptively canceled a significant number of trains on Friday January 24, and again during the height of the storm on the 25th in the mid-Atlantic region, including all Northeast Regional trains. On the following day, Sunday the 26th, only a few of the Northeast Regional trains which pass through Virginia were restored. By Monday, the 27th, full service was restored for Northeast Regional service, however the Crescent, Cardinal and Floridian were still canceled.

ABOVE: Virginia Railway Express (VRE) resumed service on both the Manassas and Fredericksburg Iines on Wednesday, January 28 utilizing its S (snow) schedule. On this day VRE ran four round-trip trains on the former RF&P Fredericksburg line, and three round-trip trains on the Norfolk Southern Manassas line. This is inbound VRE train 314 on the Fredericksburg line, ducking under Franconia Road at the summit of Franconia Hill on CSX’s RF&P Subdivision on the first day of operation after resuming service.

Virginia Railway Express (VRE) did not operate on either the Manassas or Fredericksburg lines until Wednesday, January 28, due to heavy snow and ice accumulation at stations, tracks, and roads leading to the stations. When VRE finally resumed service on Wednesday, trains operated on the reduced “S” schedule for snow…

Read the rest of this article in the April 2026 issue of Railpace Newsmagazine. Subscribe today!

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