Saw this on railpictures... http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=355183 Some unhappy dispatchers and train crews this morning, I expect.
Just another hurdle for the Train Dispatcher...without knowing complete specifics, I would anticipate the full resumption of signal operations by the end of the week, if not before.
The current estimate is 30 days before everything is back to normal. The first priority is to get grade crossing protection working again so trains do not have to stop and flag each crossing. Next will be the signals and power switches.
That is a huge job to rebuild the signalling. Even if it had a Computer Based Interlocking arrangement with it's reduced internal wiring, there's still enough internal wiring within the equipment racks and cables that make it time consuming. Then there may be lead times on the components.
That will definately take some time to repair. Don't envy those guys having to get out and flag every crossing and take every switch into hand throw. That is time consuming in iteslf.
It seems that CSX is always having problems, the line from Willard, OH to Chicago, IL was down for hours after somebody threw something in front of the train and on the same day a semi got stuck on a grade crossing which backed up the line even more.
