The Webster Progress-Times

WALTHALL - Area public officials were brought up to date Monday on an exploratory study of revitalizing the Columbus and Greenville Railroad line.

The presentation was given during the first monthly meeting of the Webster County Board of Supervisors by Bethany Stich and Whit Waide with Mississippi State University's Department of Political Science and Public Administration. Executive Director Cynthia Wilson of the Webster County Development Council introduced them.

Stich and Waide are members of a team of MSU experts evaluating the impact reopening the line would have on north-central Mississippi by estimating how it would affect freight flow throughout the state. They and Wilson were to also meet with representatives of local manufacturers later Monday.

The Appalachian Regional Commission has awarded the WCDC a $40,000 grant to study the feasibility of restoring rail service along 92 miles of the inactive railway. The funding is being combined with $10,000 from local sources to conduct an engineering analysis of the route.

These are research goals of the study, according to information provided at the meeting:

€ Could the C&G aid in the recruitment of industries to the region;

€ Would the C&G provide transportation logistics relief in the event of a natural or manmade disaster;

€ Determine relative interest in the rail line by existing freight customers;

€ Estimate the potential and actual loss of industry because the rail line is inactive; and

€ Estimate any potential cost benefits achieved through the use of alternative transportation models.

Stich and Waide listed these reasons for the need for the C&G:

€ The Funding Crisis

- Cumulative shortfall to maintain the current transportation system through 2015 is $42 billion and to improve the system through 2015, the shortfall is $91 billion.

€ Increase in Demand

- Trucking is projected to haul 13 billion tons of freight by 2016, compared with 9.8 billion tons in 2004. And in 2016, the American Trucking Association projects 3.7 million Class 8 trucks will be operating on the nation's highways, up from 2.7 million in 2004.

€ Globalism and Transportation

- Intermodal global supply chain relies on the containerization of freight.

Stich said the reliance on trucking because of the lack of railroads is hurting the competitiveness of the wood products industry. Rail becomes more affordable as the distance increases, she explained.

Wilson said private companies have expressed interest in the project, and a key in reopening the line is establishing a regional railroad authority, from which C&G would lease the line. Waide said the project's potential is strong.

Besides the local supervisors, other elected officials sitting in on the presentation were Mayor Tommy Lott and aldermen Dan Burchfield and Henry Flowers of Eupora, Mathiston Alderman Lavelle McAlpin, and Oktibbeha County supervisors Terry Kellum and David Oswalt.