(The Hattiesburg American published the following story by Janet Braswell on its website on October 9.)
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The Kansas City Southern Railroad will spend $1.4 million this year on improvements to the 68 miles of track between Hattiesburg and Gulfport.
The work on cross ties, bridge rehabilitation, track surfacing and lining, grade crossings and yard upgrades are part of a five-year memorandum of understanding between the railroad and the Port of Gulfport.
The memorandum replaces a plan approved by the 2001 Legislature for the state to issue up to $40 million in bonds to buy and refurbish the line.
“I think the approach the state took to demonstrate we were fully prepared to buy this line … I think a lot of good came out of this approach,” said port director Don Allee.
The agreement was signed by representatives of the port, the railroad and the Mississippi Development Authority in August, but economic development leaders and legislators in the Hattiesburg area who strongly supported the legislation weren’t told about it.
“I would personally have liked to have seen Hattiesburg’s interests represented in the memorandum of understanding,” said Sen. Ron Farris, R-Hattiesburg. “It would have been nice as a matter of just pure symbolism to see some entity representing the Pine Belt end of the project.”
However, the port authority and MDA are representing the area’s interests sufficiently, he said.
“I think we’re in as good a position as we could possibly be in under the circumstances,” Farris said.
The port distributed a news release about the agreement but didn’t notify individuals or agencies, Allee said.
“If they were left out, and if they’re miffed, I regret that they are,” he said.
The plan, in 2001, was touted as laying the groundwork for development of a container cargo rail hub in Hattiesburg where the Kansas City Southern meets the Canadian National, formerly the Illinois Central.
Allee wouldn’t speculate on specifics of how the track improvements will benefit Hattiesburg.
“There’s no way to predict what container traffic is going to do,” Allee said. “All of it means economic development and new business.”