Kentucky-based railroad to buy Norfolk Southern tracks through Clinton
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A Norfolk Southern train from the Eagle Bend Industrial Park passes the railroad station on Market Street in downtown Clinton. This part of the Norfolk Southern rail line through Clinton is being sold to the R.J. Corman Railroad Co. of Nicholasville, Ky. It will become part of the new Knoxville and Cumberland Gap Railroad. - G. Chambers Williams III
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R.J. Corman Railroad Co. plans to launch a new short line on Norfolk Southern branch lines in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia, including the NS lines running through Clin- ton, as shown on this map in a filing with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. - G. Chambers Williams III
Kentucky-based R.J. Corman Railroad Co. will soon take over the main Norfolk Southern rail line through Clinton, operating it as the new Knoxville and Cumberland Gap Railroad.
The new line will include the Norfolk Southern tracks through downtown Clinton where they come in from Powell, and continue north through Rocky Top and Caryville to Jellico, then east through southern Kentucky and East Tennessee to their termination in Clairfield, Tennessee.
A second line will be purchased and operated by R.J. Corman from just north of Knoxville in Coster, Tennessee, to Cumberland Gap and Middlesboro, Kentucky.
Norfolk Southern will still own and operate a line into Clinton from the southwest, through the Oliver Springs area, which will terminate at the new R.J. Corman line just north of downtown Clinton.
The R.J. Corman line will reach into the Eagle Bend Industrial Park, where Norfolk Southern now serves several industrial customers.
While R.J. Corman will be purchasing the Norfolk Southern line from Clinton north through Jellico, it will only lease trackage rights from just north of Knoxville into downtown Clinton from Norfolk Southern, which will retain ownership of that section.
Exactly what the change means to railroad service in the Clinton area from Norfolk Southern remains to be seen. The acquisition does not affect the CSX Railroad line that runs north-south through western Anderson County and into Rocky Top and points north.
There are 14 rail customers in a range of industries now using the lines included in the transaction, including coal mines, plastics producers, and a plant that produces paper packaging.
R.J. Corman reached an agreement with Norfolk Southern for the takeover on Dec. 28, and has asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to make the deal exempt from federal review.
The takeover could be effective as early as Feb. 25, according to the filing.
In a news release, the Nicholasville, Kentucky-based R.J. Corman said:
“R.J. Corman Railroad Company is glad to announce the purchase of two railroad branches from Norfolk Southern Corporation and the creation of the Knoxville and Cumberland Gap Railroad, LLC (KXCG).
“The newly established KXCG [comprises] two branches,” the release said. “First, a 59-mile branch running between Clinton, TN, and Clairfield, TN. Secondly, a branch of 72 miles operates between Beverly, TN, crossing the iconic Cumberland Gap and connecting to Middlesboro, KY. The branches, previously owned by Norfolk Southern, were historically part of the Southern Railway.
“The Knoxville and Cumberland Gap Railroad will have rights between the two branches and interchange cars in Norfolk Southern’s Sevier Yard.”
R.J. Corman said the acquisition will add about 130 miles to the more than 1,200 miles of track now operated by the short-line railroad company.
“We are extremely excited about the creation of the Knoxville and Cumberland Gap Railroad,” said Ed Quinn, president, and CEO of R.J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC. “We see a lot of potential for growth, expansion, and economic development in the region, and we look forward to providing our customers with our first-class quality service with safety-first operations.
“We are thankful for our Class I business partner, Norfolk Southern, and our continuing and growing partnership through the years,” he said.
The closing is subject to customary regulatory approvals, and R.J. Corman is expected to take over operations later this month, the release said.
Anderson, Scott and Campbell counties have been in a bitter legal battle with R.J. Corman for the past three years over R.J. Corman’s attempts to shut down and remove the historic former Tennessee Railroad line that runs about 42 miles from Oneida, in Scott County, through southwestern Campbell County, to Devonia in rural southwestern Anderson County along the New River.
The three counties have tied up the abandonment and destruction of the historic rail line, which dates to the late 1880s, in legal challenges to R.J. Corman before the Surface Transportation Board.
The three counties want to preserve and rehabilitate the Oneida-to-Devonia line for future economic-development opportunities in the region. R.J. Corman bought the line from National Coal Company in 2010, but has not run any trains on the line since a coal mine shut down at Devonia in 2013.
According to its website, R.J. Corman Railroad Co. “operates 17 short-line railroads in 11 states and is a subsidiary of R.J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC. Altogether, the company employs approximately 1,500 people in 22 states.
“In addition to short-line railroad and switching operations, R.J. Corman companies provide a broad scope of services to the railroad industry, such as emergency response, track material distribution, track construction, and signal design and construction.”