(Source: The Tennessean, November 10, 2013)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Across Tennessee and throughout the nation, hundreds of short-line railroads work around the clock to deliver raw materials and finished products on thousands of miles of tracks that, for the most part, were once operated by the nation’s major railroads.
Money for some short line track work comes from the state’s Short Line Equity Fund, which gets its money from a 7 percent tax the state charges on diesel fuel for railroad locomotives. That fund has now been frozen as the result of federal court lawsuits by Class 1 railroads claiming that the tax is discriminatory, a move that now threatens to shut down the state’s entire short-line network.
Full story: The Tennessean