Why high wind orders are now a thing on the railroad, and how they affect VRE trains

From Virginia Railway Express: 

[Monday] night, in response to the high winds associated with passing storms, VRE trains were stopped and held at stations until the storms had cleared.  For many of our riders, this was the first time trains had been stopped due to wind. 

A recent operating rules change by our host railroads now requires trains to stop at stations or sidings when high wind orders are issued. Once the orders are lifted, trains may then resume their trip.

On the Fredericksburg Line, once the restrictions were lifted, the trains were released, but then faced speed restrictions due to flash flood warnings.

On the Manassas Line, once the trains were released they encountered trees down on the tracks south of Manassas. This resulted in the need to utilize buses from Manassas to Broad Run, and for our final train, from Manassas Park to Broad Run.

If high wind orders are received from CSX or Norfolk Southern, we will communicate through our normal channels by Train Talk, Facebook, Twitter, and vre.org. If we are given an expected time for the orders to be effective, we will share the information, in case you need to make different plans.

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