Murphy – Area businesses and government officials have banded together to form a freight rail task force aimed at revitalizing the Andrews-to-Murphy rail line.
The task force consists of more than a dozen entities, which have met several times already. Members of the task force reportedly have identified at least six local and regional companies in the wood, concrete, paper and construction industries that have expressed interest in using the Andrews-to-Murphy rail line to haul freight.
The task force plans to work with those companies, and others, to help determine whether they would save money by delivering goods via freight train – at least part of the distance – as opposed to using a truck for the length of the delivery.
The analysis would also determine whether it would be profitable for train companies to haul freight along the Andrews to Murphy rail line. In fact, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad is working with Blue Ridge Southern Railroad to establish a rate schedule for an interchange agreement that allows the parties to haul freight on the other’s tracks.
“We want freight customers at Great Smoky Mountains Railroad,” said David Huskins, managing director of Smoky Mountain Host, who also represents the railroad company in governmental affairs. “We have hauled freight in the past, but all of our customers dried up by the early 2000s because [at that time] people could move things cheaper by truck.”
Huskins said there are a lot of moving parts that determine whether hauling freight would be profitable for a train company. However, in general, two main factors are used to justify shipping via rail as opposed to road: volume of traffic and length of haul. Typically, higher volumes and/or longer haul distances make rail a better value for transport than road.
“In order to justify moving by freight, you gotta have a pretty high volume,” Huskins said.
With that in mind, the task force hopes to commit as many local and regional businesses as possible to ship goods by train, with a goal of transporting freight past Asheville through the use of interchange agreements between railroad companies. Local leaders say the effort is gaining momentum because the cost to ship via truck has increased, partly due to a nationwide driver shortage.
“We've got just about everybody [on this] and we are working so well together,” Mayor Rick Ramsey told U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) during a meeting about freight rail at city hall on July 14. “If we can make it happen, this will be good for our region.”
Ramsey and other town leaders requested the meeting to see if Cawthorn could negotiate the use of federal money to fund the freight rail project. The group believes the entire project could cost up to $25 million, which includes costs to repair the local rail line, which is owned by the State of North Carolina, as well as the GSMR line so it can provide access to the Andrews-to-Murphy corridor.
Cawthorn said the funding may be available.
"This is something that we might be able to start pushing," Cawthorn said. “I'm not sure if we'll get it in this appropriation season ... my biggest hope would probably be with the Biden infrastructure plan.”