BNSF flood restoration work restores washed-out lines in Washington

BNSF flood restoration work across the Pacific Northwest wrapped up last month, bringing washed-out track back into service during the peak holiday delivery season, as reported by Progressive Railroading.

This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

Pacific Northwest track restoration after Washington state flooding

In early December 2025, Washington state flooding disrupted four BNSF subdivisions and left parts of the network in disarray, as previously covered by Railway Supply. In a company “Rail Talk” post by Mike Pagel on BNSF Rail Talk, BNSF said engineering crews restored all four subdivisions by Dec. 19, 2025.

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BNSF officials said the Cascade Range rainfall total in western Washington topped 17 inches. Only slightly less was recorded in the Puget Sound region and in areas between the mountains. With rivers overflowing, portions of track and ballast shoulders were washed out, and in some places hundreds of feet of track were damaged.

Keeping signals running during regional power outages

Strong winds knocked out power in the region, according to BNSF. The railroad said its signal teams used generators to power signals until service was restored.

Holiday delivery season operations and crew response

BNSF said crews reopened the washed-out lines in time to support holiday deliveries, allowing the Class I to deliver more than 80 million packages ahead of the holidays. Northwest Division General Manager Edmundo Rodriguez called the response “an impressive display of teamwork and resiliency” as crews worked to safely restore lines on the affected subdivisions, and he described the situation as a historic weather event that created a significant number of challenges for field crews.

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