(The following article by Gary A. Harki was posted on the Clarksburg Exponent and Telegram website on August 21.)
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — CSX Transportation is reviewing nine bids for 530 miles of track in West Virginia.
But the sale of that track is not likely to affect local coal mines, said Thomas Hoffman, vice president of investor and public relations for Consolidation Coal.
“Our understanding is that there will not be an impact on us,” Hoffman said.
The Robinson Run Mine in Harrison County is the only mine in the area run by Consolidation Coal, he said.
That mine transports 70 percent of its coal by conveyor belt to the Harrison Power Station, leaving 30 percent to be taken by train over the current CSX line. That translates into 1.5 million tons of coal transported by rail each year, Hoffman said.
“We are a significant customer of CSX in general,” he said. “Obviously, we communicate with them on a regular basis. The only thing that may change here is the shipping rates.”
The line from Cumberland, Md., to Brooklyn Junction, just south of New Martinsville, is being sold in hopes that the track will be more profitable for a smaller company, CSX spokesman Gary Sease has said.
A decline in business may affect decisions on which track to sell, said Lewis Halstead, assistant director of the state Division Mining and Reclamation.
But that is not likely the case in Harrison County, where coal production has increased in the past few years, according to statistics from the Office of Miner’s Health and Safety Training.
In 2003, Harrison County produced 6.6 million tons of coal, up from the 5.9 million tons produced in 2002.
So far in 2004, 3.5 million tons of coal have been produced in Harrison County, according to the statistics.
About 250 CSX employees in the area may be affected by the lease/sale, Sease has said.
Local union officials say that if CSX Transportation does sell the track in West Virginia, they will be forced to relocate or lose their jobs.
The possibility also exists that none of the bids will be accepted, at which point CSX would continue to operate the railroad as it does now, said Jane Covington, CSX spokeswoman.