Rail right of way decreased
Murphy – Lawmakers passed a bill that effectively reduces the state’s property interest along the Andrews-to- Murphy rail corridor.
“This bill is the culmination of a lot of hard work,” Cherokee County Commissioner C.B. McKinnon said at a press conference Thursday. “This does not happen very much. I want everybody to know what a heavy lift this was to get the Department of Transportation to reduce a right of way. It is a big deal.”
Gov. Roy Cooper signed House Bill 1168 on June 30, ending a years-long debate over the width of the rail line’s right of way. Previous legislation established a 200-foot right of way that residents encroached over the past 35 years as the rail line sat dormant. The bill signed last week establishes a 50-foot right of way, 25 feet on each side of the track’s centerline.
“Hopefully, this is going to make a lot of people in Cherokee County along that 12-mile track happy and clear up a lot of land disputes that have gone on for a lot of years,” said state Sen. Jim Davis (R-Franklin).
A rail line’s right of way is typically reserved for the purpose of maintenance
or expansion of existing services. Historically, the standard railroad right of way is 100 feet from the track’s centerline on each side.
To ensure there will be enough room for maintenance and repairs along the Andrews to Murphy track, the new bill establishes a 15-foot easement parallel to the corridor side in addition to the right of way width.
“There were 227 encroachments on that corridor,” said Dan Gurley, senior policy advisor to N.C. Speaker of the House Tim Moore. “This legislation will reduce that number to [a little more than 20], which is a dramatic impact.”
In recent years, state and local leaders have expressed interest in restoring and reactivating the Andrews-to-Murphy rail line, and they needed to fix the issue of property encroachments to move forward with planning. Officials rewrote the new bill 11 times to reach a point where all interested parties were satisfied with the compromise.
“What everyone thought was going to be a very simple task to accomplish became quite complicated,” Gurley said. “We were able to do this because it is a state-owned facility. A private railroad company would not do this. The most important asset a railroad company owns is its right of way, and they’re going to protect that judiciously.”
“We were able to write this thing in a way that got everybody on board, and I think everybody is a winner,” said state Rep. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin). “The landowners have use of their property, and the right of way is still wide enough for a train to operate.”
The Andrews-to-Murphy rail line was once an integral and active freight and passenger corridor. Passenger service discontinued in 1948, as Americans moved toward automobiles as the primary form of transportation.
Freight traffic discontinued in 1985. About three years later, the State of North Carolina purchased the stretch of track between Dillsboro and Murphy to prevent its removal.
State and local leaders believe the Andrews-to-Murphy rail line is an untapped resource that could provide the regional economy an economic boost of $60 million and add nearly 1,900 jobs over 15 years.
“When the railroad came into Cherokee County and western North Carolina, it was a lifeline,” McKinnon said. “Without that railroad, this area really didn’t exist. It lit this area up.
“It was very vital and could still be today if we can get some freight that would use that line. We’re going to continue to lobby for this rail.”
Now that the right of way issue has been resolved, local leaders plan to seek funding to repair and upgrade the rail line, which has been maintained over the years by the N.C. Department of Transportation. According to a 2015 reactivation study, it would cost a minimum of $10 million to rehabilitate the rail line.
“We are looking at the potential for federal dollars that are right now being analyzed to bring our economy back from COVID-19,” Murphy Mayor Rick Ramsey said.
In addition to the return of freight service, local leaders hope to incorporate tourist activities on board a train that uses the Andrews-to-Murphy rail line.
“There’s a marketing company in Atlanta that has been working for free to develop ideas regarding experiences that could happen on a train that would be economical and very exciting for the ridership,” Ramsey said.