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.