Image by Flickr user TomSpinker
Update January 28: CSX officials were in Charleston yesterday to discuss key points of their rail plan proposal that they believe would save taxpayers between $60 million and $100 million.
Instead of undoing years of residential development, CSX officials propose using the Macalloy site adjacent to a planned access road connecting the new port terminal with Interstate 26. This would eliminate the Commerce Department's plan for a $100 million overpass and would require no diesel-emitting trucks to haul containers between the docks and the rail yard over other public roads.
CSX also promised to allow Norfolk Southern access to CSX railroads by charging only a very reasonable fee.
The Post and Courier has solid coverage of the meeting and more on CSX's sound proposal.
First reporting: At yesterday's meeting of leading figures in the ongoing North Charleston rail debate pressure increased on disagreeing parties to find a deal that works.
The Charleston Regional Business Journal is reporting that increasingly hot language was being used, like the parties being told to find a solution or one would be found for them, and that the need for a solution that allow dual rail service to the port is a myth.
Read the journal's well-rounded report here.
My money would be on Norfolk Southern using all this back and forth to negotiate better rates and terms cut across CSX's lines, if not to outright use CSX's intermodal facility.
- Catch up on the full back story on our North Charleston rail topic page.
