Norfolk Southern railroad rejects Summey's plan

NORTH CHARLESTON - Norfolk Southern Corp. rejects North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey's plan to kick its trains out of key up-and-coming neighborhoods at the company's expense, and the railroad's officials say there's nothing he can do about it.

They say a train plan proposal by the city, competing railroad CSX Corp. and a developer puts the state at risk of losing significant port business -- including Norfolk Southern's BMW traffic -- by edging them out.

Norfolk Southern officials, virtually silent as that agreement developed, shared a plan with The Post and Courier on Wednesday that would continue competitive rail service in Charleston.

Summey recently signed an agreement with CSX and Shipyard Creek Associates that calls for redevelopment of CSX's Cooper Yard and Shipyard Creek's Macalloy property into an intermodal rail facility and warehousing space to serve a new port terminal under construction at the former Charleston Naval Base.

The operation would load shipping containers onto trains two miles long for transportation to major cities such as Atlanta, Nashville, Tenn., and Chicago and hinges on federal funding and support from South Carolina's delegation in Washington.

It also eliminates access to the port terminal from trains traveling in from the north in and around key revitalization efforts in the Park Circle and Noisette neighborhoods. The plan holds to an agreement between the State Ports Authority and North Charleston that prohibits trains from going through the northern end of the former base.

Augie Eckhardt, Norfolk Southern's market manager for international intermodal, says that agreement has no bearing on his company's operations.

"Mr. Summey may not want us to come through there, but the truth is we have rail that runs through there," Eckhardt said, explaining that Norfolk Southern uses those tracks today. "We have the right to run through there."

In fact, only the federal Surface Transportation Board could budge the company from its existing tracks.

Summey could not be reached for comment because of medical reasons, but his special assistant, Ray Anderson, said Norfolk Southern officials never spoke in detail with the mayor but that "they threatened him" during brief discussions, saying they would "run over the city."

Norfolk Southern representatives, on the other hand, said the mayor dismissed their several proposals for the area with an emphatic "no," never addressing each individually.

Officials with the city, CSX and Shipyard Creek suggest that CSX would allow Norfolk Southern to use its operation at Macalloy -- at a cost, something Eckhardt said could put his company at a competitive disadvantage in pricing. He suggests it would be cheaper to truck the cargo miles away to Norfolk Southern's existing rail yard, rather than pay the charges to use the CSX yard so close to the port terminal.

He said some Norfolk Southern operations likely would relocate to other ports.

"If we can't handle it here and we have to handle the business, we have to take it somewhere else where we can handle it," Eckhardt said.

Norfolk Southern instead supports a train operation on another piece of land just to the north of Macalloy known as the Clemson property. The narrow property, across the street from a wind-turbine research site, would let both railroads serve the new port terminal, with Norfolk Southern coming in from the north and CSX from the south.

The problems: That land otherwise could support the buildout of a wind farm cluster, and rail still comes through Noisette, much to Summey's chagrin.

S.C. Public Railways, a for-profit arm of the state Commerce Department, would build and run the yard. Like the Macalloy proposal, this plan also relies on federal dollars to make it happen.

Steve Evans, Norfolk Southern's assistant vice president of ports and international, called the Macalloy plan "inferior" as it relates to South Carolina business.

"If you've got limited funding, does it make sense to advocate putting money in what's basically a CSX facility rather than one both railroads can get into?" he said.

CSX officials released a statement saying they are "confident the plan we have developed with Mayor Summey will make the port more competitive while enhancing the quality of life for the citizens of North Charleston." The statement pointed out the company's commitment not to access the new port terminal from the north.

Shipyard Creek Associates previously suggested a former landfill off Morrison Drive as a site for an intermodal yard for Norfolk Southern, a notion Evans summarily rejected as "murderously difficult to serve."

The State Ports Authority has stayed out of the rail debate thus far, but Chief Executive Officer Jim Newsome said Wednesday that he wants a solution that CSX and Norfolk Southern both accept.

"The port needs dual rail service," Newsome said. "The customers of the port need choice. They want options."