(The following story by Royce Armstrong appeared on the Sun Herald website on May 4,2 009.)
LUCEDALE, Miss. — With an eye to the future, Wayne County Supervisors met more than 70 officials, including mayors and supervisors from five southeast Mississippi counties, state representatives and four railroads during an initial informational meeting at the MGCCC in Lucedale last week.
The purpose of the meeting was to gain support for a rail line connecting Waynesboro and Lucedale.
The proposed 40-plus section of railroad would create a rail corridor extending from the ports of Mobile and Pascagoula to Meridian and beyond.
It would also connect five existing railroads, including the Mississippi Export Railroad, Canadian National, Norfolk Southern, CSX and Kansas City Southern, according to Sean Dunlap, the Wayne County public information officer.
The project is estimated to cost about $50 million, according to Larry Harvey of the Wayne County Economic Development Department.
The Mississippi Export Railroad ends in Lucedale and connects the Canadian National with the CSX, providing access to the two ports.
The Meridian Central line comes from Meridian to Waynesboro, providing access to the Norfolk Southern and the Kansas City Southern lines.
“I feel that it would be a spark igniting economic development in all six counties,” said Jerry Hutto, president of the Wayne County Board of Supervisors.
“During the last century we built 42,000 miles of interstate highway,” said Gil Carmichael, the former Federal Railroad Administrator.
“We have a beautiful 240,000-mile railroad right-of-way system across the United States.”
Carmichael said that in the past the U.S. built a transportation system based upon ships, air and trucking.
He said the future would be the intermodal system of ships, rail and trucks because of the high cost of petroleum-based fuels.
He also said that rail is the transportation of the future as the country turns to alternative fuel sources such as solar and wind because rail service can be converted to electric-powered trains.
Carmichael said that the Obama administration has allocated $8 billion for developing high speed railroads.
That service would accommodate passengers as well as freight.
It is important for South Mississippi to build this rail corridor to handle the larger container cargos coming off ships as the Panama Canal is widened and deepened, Carmichael said.
“It is a great concept,” said George County District Five Supervisor Henry Cochran. “It is a regional approach.”
Cochran said that the additional rail service could be a boon to the George County Industrial Park, which is served by the Mississippi Export Railroad.
Brian Martin, the policy director for U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, said that Taylor has been involved with Wayne County for some time to improve rail service in the county and that Taylor is supporting this project.
Lee Hedegaard, the CEO of Singing River Power Association, said that the meeting was preliminary, but that everyone attending appeared to be very supportive.
“This is the first of several meetings that will be necessary,” Hedegaard said.
“It will be a four- or five-year project to do feasibility studies, determine the route and put this together.”