CSXT, NS eye deal to serve Charleston, S.C.

The long-running commercial rail saga in North Charleston, S.C., has taken another turn, and a resolution could finally be in sight, the South Carolina Business Journal reports. The Business Journal has learned that the city has drafted a memorandum of understanding with development firm Shipyard Creek Associates and railroad operator CSX Transportation that, if approved by City Council, would eliminate rail service to the former Navy base from the north in favor of a new southern line. City Council will be presented with the memorandum during its 7 p.m. meeting July 8. A southern line would satisfy a 2002 memorandum of understanding penned by North Charleston and the S.C. State Ports Authority in which the SPA agreed to "use rail access exclusively from the south end of the property." That document has been a source of contention among city leaders, who backed the agreement, and state officials, who claim the memorandum didn't pertain to them. Under the latest proposal, CSXT would abandon rights of way from a to-be-determined point between Clement Avenue and Viaduct Road northward to just past the intersection at Braddock Road. In return, North Charleston would assist CSXT in acquiring city-owned property making up the new route. North Charleston would also pay CSXT between $3 million and $5 million in tax-increment financing revenue for the old rights of way. Shipyard Creek Associates, meanwhile, would move ahead with construction of an intermodal facility on its Macalloy property, a project it's been pitching for years. That Macalloy site is located practically adjacent to the container terminal being constructed by the State Ports Authority on the former Navy base and would serve as a rail yard for CSXT. In the past, officials from the state and CSXT's chief rival, Norfolk Southern, have claimed that such an arrangement would be unfair. Those officials have trumpeted the need for dual access to the port terminal and said that Norfolk Southern would be at competitive disadvantage if it had to pay CSX for access to its tracks. The threat of northern rail access loomed, but North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey is now close to vanquishing that possibility. He said that the proposed memorandum provides dual access. "Is it equal dual access?" Summey said. "I don't know if that's available at any port." The new plan relies heavily on federal grant financing and the "existence of sufficient property tax revenues to permit bonding against city TIF districts." Summey said that a series of federal grants over a period of several years would be needed to pay for the project and that the parties involved will move ahead in seeking those funds if the memorandum of understanding is approved.