The CSX Cumberland Subdivision is a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line owned and operated by

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

s of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. The line runs from

Brunswick, Maryland Brunswick is a city in southwestern Frederick County, Maryland, Frederick County, Maryland, United States. The city is located on the north bank of the Potomac River; Loudoun County, Virginia, Loudoun County, Virginia occupies the opposite shor ...

, west to

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,075. Located on the Potomac River, Cumberland is a regional business and comm ...

, along the old Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road (B&O) main line. At its east end, the Cumberland Subdivision becomes the

Metropolitan Subdivision The Metropolitan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in Washington, D.C. and Maryland. The 53-mile line runs from Washington, D.C., northwest to Weverton, Maryland, along the former Metropolitan Branch of ...

; at its west end at

it becomes the Cumberland Terminal Subdivision. It meets the Shenandoah Subdivision at

Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 269 at the 2020 United States census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac River, Potomac and Shenandoah River, Shenandoah Rivers in the ...

, West Virginia, and the

Lurgan Subdivision The Lurgan Subdivision is a railroad line owned and operated by CSX Transportation in the U.S. states of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia. The line runs from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, south to Hagerstown, Maryland, and west to Che ...

in Cherry Run, West Virginia.

History

The Cumberland Subdivision was opened in 1842 as part of the B&O's main line. In 1914 the Baltimore and Ohio RR opened the Magnolia Cutoff, a more direct route through mountain ridges, running between Hansrote, West Virginia and

Paw Paw, West Virginia Paw Paw is a town in Morgan County, West Virginia, Morgan County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 410 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The town is known for the nearby Paw Paw Tunnel. Paw Paw was incorporated by t ...

. The project included construction of four tunnels, two bridges, and many deep rock cuts.High Iron Online. 2001-09-20. The B&O continued to use the original route along the

Potomac River The Potomac River () is in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and flows from the Potomac Highlands in West Virginia to Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography D ...

, called the "Lowline," until 1961.Rail Nutter News
"Magnolia Cutoff."
Accessed 2010-11-17. In 1987 the subdivision and the rest of the B&O system were merged into CSX.

Current operation

The Cumberland Subdivision supports

freight In transportation, cargo refers to goods transported by land, water or air, while freight refers to its conveyance. In economics, freight refers to goods transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. The term cargo is also used in ...

and

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

traffic, with frequent runs of intermodal,

autorack An autorack, also known as an auto carrier (also Flat wagon#Car transporters, car transporter outside the US), is a specialized piece of railroad rolling stock used to transport automobiles and light trucks. Autoracks are used to transport new ...

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

unit train A unit train, also called a block train or a trainload service, is a train in which all cars (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. They are disti ...

s, mixed freights, oil trains, and

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

's '' Floridian in both directions.'' The MARC

Brunswick Line The Brunswick Line is a MARC commuter rail line between Washington, D.C., and Martinsburg, West Virginia, with a branch to Frederick, Maryland. It primarily serves the northern and western suburbs of Washington. The line, MARC's second longest ...

commuter trains stop at Martinsburg, WV, Duffields, WV,

, WV, and points east in Maryland, terminating at Union Station in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

References

{{Reflist CSX Transportation lines Transportation in Cumberland, MD-WV-PA Rail infrastructure in Maryland Rail infrastructure in West Virginia Baltimore and Ohio Railroad lines Transportation in Hampshire County, West Virginia

History

Current operation

See also

References