(The following article by Don Hammack was posted on the Biloxi Sun Herald website on April 4.)
BILOXI, Miss. — The final push in efforts to acquire the CSX Transportation railroad right of way across South Mississippi is on in Washington.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran is calling for an extra $4.6 billion on top of President Bush’s request of $19 billion. That would include $700 million to acquire the land from CSX, which will move its traffic to other lines inland.
“It’s rerouting and working out business arrangements with other railroads,” said Mississippi Power President Anthony Topazi, who chaired the transportation committee for the Governor’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal. “There won’t be a new track that crosses the state of Mississippi.”
Building a new rail line would be a vastly longer proposition, on the order of decades. The right of way could be acquired in a matter of a couple of years.
Cochran’s office said he was working with Gov. Haley Barbour based on Governor’s Commission recommendations.
His vision of the new east-west corridor created in Harrison County would involve relocating U.S. 90 there. That would let Beach Boulevard become a scenic road.
CSX has been tight-lipped about its plans, which probably include entering agreements with competitors to share track that crosses the state farther north. It spent about $250 million to make repairs to the 100 miles of heavily damaged track and bridges between Pascagoula and New Orleans.
Hurricane Katrina highlighted the route’s vulnerability, especially crossing Biloxi Bay, the Bay of St. Louis and the Rigolets and other swampy areas east of New Orleans.
“The question now is do we want to acquire that right of way at this cost,” Topazi said. “It’s a great bargain. You couldn’t go and replace this right of way anywhere near this cost. It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”