Over the last two decades, Norfolk Southern has seen a number of proposals for bringing commuter rail service to Clayton County. As in prior years, Norfolk Southern remains willing to consider discussing rail service on our line through the county.
So why are we so concerned about a recently publicized budget and timeline for commuter rail service to Clayton? Simply put, it is because Norfolk Southern did not participate in the study, has not seen it, and therefore is not willing to stand behind its numbers and conclusions. The first time we learned that hard numbers and timelines had been presented to Clayton was when we read about it on the website of an Atlanta radio station. When we learned that county leaders were considering a tax increase based in part on these numbers and timeline, Norfolk Southern was obligated to speak up.
While Norfolk Southern hasn’t seen a copy of the full study, the summary materials presented to the county lay out a concept for the proposed commuter rail service. But there is a lot we don’t know. What type of commuter rail trains would be used? What are the schedules of the proposed trains? How fast would the passenger trains run? All of these factors, and more, play a large role in how much it would cost taxpayers to acquire the capacity and access needed to run commuter trains. That’s why new rail passenger services are always the product of detailed studies, including simulations that figure out how to keep freight trains and passenger trains out of each other’s way. Sharing a narrow, century-old right of way is not easy and takes a lot of careful preparation.
Rail commuter service over Norfolk Southern’s line will be more difficult to implement now than even five years ago. As the economy has rebounded, Norfolk Southern’s freight business has grown to the point that we cannot accommodate new passenger rail service into Atlanta’s core, including on our line north of East Point. Port growth in Savannah, Brunswick, Jacksonville and Miami is filling up Norfolk Southern’s primary route between Atlanta and Macon, so we are planning to move more freight on our line through Lovejoy and Jonesboro. In 2008, the federal government mandated the installation of a train collision-avoidance system called “positive train control” on all lines that have passenger trains — and this is a cost that did not even exist in previous studies.
It is important that we don’t lose sight of the big picture. Norfolk Southern’s primary contribution to the region’s economy is hauling freight. Norfolk Southern kept more than 2 million trucks off I-75 through Clayton County in 2013, and increasing that number is the single best thing the railroad can do for mobility both locally and nationally. But while our business is hauling freight, Norfolk Southern is glad to figure out if we can achieve similar returns by hosting commuter service.
John H. Friedmann is vice president of strategic planning for Norfolk Southern Corp.
