A familiar sight and sound will return to the Swannanoa Valley, beginning around 8:30 a.m., Saturday, April 18, when service resumes along the Norfolk Southern Asheville-Salisbury Line from Asheville to Newton.
The first train to run on the section of tracks between Grove Stone and Old Fort since severe and widespread destruction from Helene forced the temporary closure of the transportation corridor is scheduled to depart at 8 a.m.
The rail company, which owns and operates nearly 20,000 miles of rail lines in 22 states, east of the Mississippi River, resumed freight service from Eastern Tennessee into Asheville on its A-S Line last May, following multiple storm-related projects in an area between Newport, Tennessee and Asheville. Crews began working on the final 16 miles of track last summer…