CINCINNATI — Voters in Cincinnati go to the polls this Tuesday, Nov. 7, to determine whether the city should sell its railway to Norfolk Southern, after a campaign that has seen a host of conflicting claims and endorsements.
The matter, on the ballot as Issue 22, asks voters to approve the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway — the nation’s only municipally owned interstate railway — to NS in a $1.62 billion deal announced by the city and railroad a year ago [see “Norfolk Southern to buy CNO&TP line …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 21, 2022]. Norfolk Southern and its predecessors have leased the 336-mile line between Cincinnati and Chattanooga, Tenn., since 1881, with the railroad currently paying the city about $25 million annually. The sale is structured so that the money from the deal would go into a trust fund estimated to pay the city about $56 million annually; that money will be used for city infrastructure projects, thanks to a bill passed by the state legislature earlier this year.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval has campaigned in favor of the sale, appearing in a TV ad urging passage of the measure that led to a formal complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission from opponents of the sale. A group of five former mayors has joined Pureval in supporting the sale [see “Mayor stars in ad …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 27, 2023], citing the financial benefits. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has also offered its endorsement [see “Engineers’ union backs sale …,” News Wire, Oct. 9].
But the deal also has a host of opponents. Some oppose a sale to Norfolk Southern, citing safety concerns in the wake of February’s derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. A group of East Palestine residents joined other sale opponents on Friday outside NS offices in Cincinnati on Friday, WLWT-TV reports. Cincinnati’s chapter of the NAACP is opposed over concerns about the lack of public engagement on the sale, according to WVXU. Some oppose the deal for financial reasons, either because they feel the steady lease income is a better idea, because they think the $1.62 billion sale price is too low, or because they don’t like the provision that the money must be spent on infrastructure. And the group Rail Workers United, in a statement opposing the sale, argues that public ownership is preferable to that of a company “that continues to put profits over people.”
The Surface Transportation Board has already approved the sale, pending the election results [see “Federal regulators OK Norfolk Southern acquisition …,” News Wire, Sept. 20, 2023]. If voters turn the deal down, the city or railroad can terminate the agreement within 30 days; if that happens, negotiations on a new lease would likely resume. The sale agreement came out of negotiations prompted by the impending end of the current lease in 2026.
If the two sides want to try again for voter approval, the city would have to go back to the state legislature for permission to take the issue to the voters again; legislation passed in March allowed only one vote.
Sometimes a bird in the hand (lease) is better than the two in the bush (Sale and eliminating an administrative issue.). Cincinnati should renegotiate the lease to a more advantageous situation for the city. There are only two reasons NS wants to buy it: Control and Elimination of payments that are in perpetuity as long as they don’t own it. Once the money is spent, then what… Say good buy to a secure revenue stream that you may need in the future… At least the citizenry can decide their own fate, unlike in Congress where laws are past and money spent with little input or care for what the PEOPLE really want…
Does anyone else call that line, the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific, the “SNOT-PAC”? Late friend of mine came up with that one. But just how does an Ohio city have the charter power to own railroad real estate in other states? How do Kentucky and Tennessee and maybe Georgia feel about having some Northern Yankees own “their” railroad? Were its trains segregated in the Jim Crow Era? (I read in an old James J Kilpatrick article that Cincinnati’s school system was Jim Crow until 1912 when they ended that because it cost too much money.)
Growing up in Central Ohio I always viewed Cincinnati as a gateway to the South. Remember Southern Railway and L&N served Cincinnati. And it was the major city between DC and St. Louis. Also, if you wander amongst the mountain folks in certain regions of Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee Cincinnati had some influence.
Cincinnati, since its early days always had its thinking towards transportation innovation and was always willing to put up its own capital to do so. It was Cincy money that purchased bonds for the Whitewater Canal in nearby Indiana. It was Cincy that fronted (several times) a canal to be built around the Ohio Falls to facilitate steamer traffic without interruption. It was Cincy money who helped fund the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad which connected them to St Louis in the (then) far west. It was Cincy that pushed for the Erie & Miami Canal from Toledo down to them. Cincy was a big backer of the electric Cincinnati, Dayton and Hamilton electric that ran all the way to Cleveland. So it should not come to anyone’s surprise they fronted the dough for a Kentucky railroad.
“NAACP is opposed over concerns about the lack of public engagement on the sale”
What do you think a public vote is? I can’t think of a more involved form of engagement. It’s been in all the newspapers, their websites, the city’s website, postings in all the libraries and post offices. Call your city Alderman.
The buyer can place any covenant they want on the purchase, after all, it is their money they are using to make the purchase. If you don’t like the infrastructure covenant than vote “no”. And in this case, Cincy is not using the current Administrations’ definition of “equity is infrastructure” jibe.
How about a public auction of the line? Highest bidder gets it.
CPkc would buy it just to prove they are really a big time railroad. But in reality it would create a major routing issue for anyone without direct access and only a shortline would truly benefit in that instance (R J Corman, G & W or the like) and where would they come up with that kind of cash? If they are going to sale NS makes the most sense. We will see what the public think…
Politicians starring at a pot of money, what could possibly go wrong!
Just ask the residents/taxpayers of Chicago how the sale of the parking meters and Chicago Skyway worked out – and where the money from those sales went.