CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The city of Charlotte and Norfolk Southern have reached agreement for Charlotte to acquire NS’ O-Line route north of the city for use as a commuter rail line, WSOC-TV reports.
An email from City Manager Marcus Jones informed officials in Mecklenburg County of the non-binding agreement on May 15; that email was sent by Councilman Ed Driggs to other city council members four days later.
The email said the agreement is non-binding as the city continues its due diligence, but a final agreement could be completed by the end of September “should the towns and county choose to move forward with pursuing sales tax legislation.” A one-cent sales tax referendum would be needed to fund the project, as well as road improvement work; the state legislature would have to approve such a ballot measure.
Jones told a city council meeting on Tuesday that the referendum would be in 2025.
The long-discussed Red Line project would create a 25-mile, 10-station route between downtown Charlotte and the community of Mt. Mourne; as of 2021, the proposal had a projected cost of $674 million. The concept dates to 1998, but Norfolk Southern has long opposed the use of its right-of-way. That changed last year when the railroad indicated it was willing to “consider … a possible transition” [see “Charlotte commuter rail proposal revived …,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 19, 2023].
More information on the Red Line is available here.
NS and it’s position on this line has been totally preposterous. There’s very little traffic on the line and it goes nowhere these days. They should have sold it long ago.