Old Fort Loops near return to rail service after Helene

Old Fort Loops reopening is drawing nearer. A Norfolk Southern geometry train crossed the Western North Carolina line near Old Fort. That suggests a return to rail service may be close. It would be the first since Tropical Storm Helene.

Norfolk Southern said the engineering train uses advanced sensors. Those sensors measure track alignment, curvature and surface conditions. The train traveled the 16-mile stretch from Old Fort toward Asheville on April 7. Meanwhile, freight service into and out of Asheville has been limited since April 2025. That northern route runs through Marshall in Madison County and on to Newport, Tennessee.

Old Fort Loops reopening and freight rail access

Norfolk Southern spokesperson Heather Garcia spoke to the Citizen Times. She said the first regular train is expected later in April. It is expected to pass through the loops. If that happens, repairs will have been completed there. The area includes the Old Fort Loops. In addition, it includes sections of track. The company had previously described them as “completely destroyed” by Helene.

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Shortly after the storm, Norfolk Southern described damage across its Western North Carolina network. It said the damage included 21,000 feet of washed-out track. It also included 50,000 feet of track damaged by scour. It included more than 15,000 feet of fill failure as well. Separately, Garcia said the work was privately funded.

The geometry train is not technically considered the “first train” since Helene. It did pass across the Eastern Continental Divide and into the Old Fort Loops. Still, its trip suggests freight trains may soon resume through the area. The sight brought Marion Mayor Steve Little to tears.

“I was so afraid after Helene, after I saw the extent of the destruction, that Norfolk Southern would not make that financial commitment to restore those tracks. That was terrifying,” said Little, a North Carolina rail historian and co-chair of the Western North Carolina Rail Committee.

“It was quite emotional for me to see that geometry train come through, knowing it was going right by Henry Station, right by Andrews Geyser, up through all of those tunnels,” Little told the Citizen Times April 10.

Historic line through the mountains

The route climbs 1,100 vertical feet in about three miles. Convict laborers cut through the mountains in the 1870s and early 1880s. That made the ascent possible. They created the twisting line and its tunnels. According to the RAIL Project, more than 125 people died under those harsh conditions.

Their experience also inspired the folk song “Swannanoa Tunnel.” The song is also known as “Asheville Junction.” It is described as a hammer song. It is tied to laborers who faced cave-ins. They were building the 1,832-foot-long Swannanoa Gap Tunnel. Researchers have found that most of those laborers were unfairly incarcerated.

WNC passenger rail corridor plans

Any future passenger service in Western North Carolina would also rely on the loops. That route is central to the proposed WNC passenger rail corridor linking Asheville and Salisbury. Also, it is the route being repaired for freight traffic. That corridor would carry riders through the historic tunnels and loops. From Salisbury, passengers could continue by train to Raleigh or Charlotte.

Interest in the loops has grown as reopening moves closer. At the same time, the passenger rail project remains a long way off. Any passenger train departure from Asheville would be the first since 1975. A 2023 study estimated the cost of the 139-mile corridor at $665 million.

Under the Federal Railroad Administration’s Corridor I.D. program, the federal government was expected to cover 80% of project costs. That would apply if the project is approved to move forward. The FRA says it remains in “Step I” of that process.

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