(The Times Daily published the following story by Mike Goens on its website on July 23.)
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. — Business is increasing at Norfolk Southern’s switchyard in Muscle Shoals with the recent addition of a coal transportation contract.
That also means that more delays will be in the future for Colbert County motorists.
Norfolk Southern has been chosen to help deliver coal from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming to power plants in Georgia. And much of that coal will be passing through the Shoals and the switchyard.
“We’re delighted to have the additional business and to be able to expand in Sheffield,” said Susan Terpay, a spokeswoman for Norfolk Southern. “Instead of getting all of the coal from West Virginia and other areas, we’re sourcing from other places like the river basin because of the environmental advantages and expenses.
“We will need additional crews to handle that business, and we’re building a new side track that will be capable of holding two, 125-car coal trains.”
Norfolk Southern officials still refer to the switchyard as its Sheffield operation even though the facility is off Wilson Dam Road in Muscle Shoals.
The side track, which will stretch 12,000 feet, is under construction. The facility will be needed to service the additional trains, Terpay said. She compared the new work to that of a pit stop in automobile racing.
“It will be a quick turnaround,” she said. “They will come in and be fueled and serviced. One crew will get off & and another will get on. There will be a Memphis-to-Sheffield crew and a Sheffield-to-Chattanooga crew.”
Norfolk Southern has hired about 60 workers who are in training to meet new contract obligations. Norfolk Southern has 350 workers at its Colbert County operation.
In June, 50 loaded coal trains passed through the area, and 50 empty coal trains moved back. Terpay said that by the end of the year, there will be 101 loaded coal trains moving through and 101 empty ones moving back.
In an area that is often stifled by the frequency of trains, the news received mixed reactions.
The additional employees and expansion are welcomed; the additional complications for traffic flow are not.
“We’re certainly pleased to have the additional workers, and Norfolk Southern has always been a welcomed part of our community,” Sheffield Mayor Ian Sanford said. “We have nothing against the railroad company, but the additional trains will make a bad situation for motorists even worse.
“It’s not the tracks that bother us; it’s the cars that travel on those tracks. The tracks already split Sheffield and are a problem for most, if not all, of the whole area. It’s not only very frustrating if you’re caught by a train because you never seem to get caught by a short one or you get caught at a good time, but it also has a bearing on our area economically.”
The additional rail traffic will likely fuel the debate over relocating the tracks, a topic that has been controversial in some circles, particularly among those in the rural area of Colbert who would see the tracks touch their property, based on a proposed relocation plan.
Sanford said the additional train traffic makes lobbying for relocation even more critical.
The Tuscumbia City Council has publicly denounced the effort.
Tuscumbia Council President Buddy Aldridge said the additional traffic represents a no-win situation for all concerned.
“There’s nothing Norfolk Southern can do about it,” Aldridge said. “They’ve got to have the business. But with all the delays the public has now, it’s just going to double the time and inconvenience. We’re happy to have the new jobs, but we’re also impatient people who don’t like waiting for the trains to cross. When you’re waiting in hot weather, you’re usually not thinking about the additional jobs it’s creating.
“If there is a positive, we’ll be able to keep people in Tuscumbia and hopefully they’ll do business here instead of elsewhere.”
Aldridge said the council is opposed to the proposed new route because it could hamper growth to the south of the city. The relocation route closely follows the proposed Memphis-to-Atlanta superhighway route that is just south of U.S. 72.
“The one way we have available to us is to the south,” he said. “Relocating the tracks wouldn’t be eliminating the problem for us, just moving it.”
Steve Nesbitt, who heads a chamber committee that has studied the relocation issue, said engineering experts say relocating the tracks provides the best solution.
There have been thoughts of building overpasses across the tracks, but the expenses are far greater than relocation, which is projected to cost more than $30 million. In addition, overpasses would also eliminate some established businesses.
The chamber has openly endorsed relocation of the tracks. Nesbitt said environmental and historical work has been done on the proposed relocation route, and the survey determined the route is workable. However, the effort is at a standstill.
“We’re stalled until we can get everyone together and show that we have a united front because the state views this as a local project,” Nesbitt said. “Tuscumbia is the lone holdout right now. I do not understand their position. Maybe we could understand and work out something if we could just sit down with everyone and discuss it.”
Nesbitt hopes Tuscumbia’s council will reconsider when they learn of the additional rail traffic. He said two train derailments in the county over the past year or so should also be considered alarming even though hazardous material was not involved in the accidents.
“We were fortunate that hazardous materials were not involved, but it easily could have been different,” Nesbitt said. “Can you imagine what the situation would have been had the hazardous materials been involved and the derailments occurred at a crossing where a lot of people were waiting?
“There are 11,000 people living within a quarter mile of those crossings now, and the proposed route affects very few people. So, relocating the tracks makes a lot of sense from that standpoint as well.”
Nesbitt said the cities must be committed to funding the relocation project. The chamber has already secured $5 million to get the plan off the ground, and Nesbitt said other federal money could be available, if the area acts quickly.
“We’ve got to look forward 10 years in the future and see what makes the most sense for our community,” he said.