{"id":1261119,"date":"2023-10-11T12:16:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T12:16:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/10\/cincinnati-ohio-railroads-railworker-publicly-owned-privatization-norfolk-southern\/"},"modified":"2023-10-11T13:05:08","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T13:05:08","slug":"cincinnati-may-sell-one-of-the-uss-last-publicly-owned-rail-lines-to-norfolk-southern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/10\/11\/cincinnati-may-sell-one-of-the-uss-last-publicly-owned-rail-lines-to-norfolk-southern\/","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati May Sell One of the US\u2019s Last Publicly Owned Rail Lines to Norfolk Southern"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n\n\n

Elected officials in Cincinnati are considering a lucrative deal with rail executives that would sell one of the last publicly owned stretches of rail line in the US to Norfolk Southern, the company behind the disastrous train derailment in Ohio last winter.<\/h3>\n\n\n
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\n Cincinnati is the\u00a0only city in America to own interstate rail tracks \u2014 yet is considering selling one of the country's last rail lines to Norfolk Southern rail. (Elijah Nouvelage \/ Bloomberg<\/cite> via Getty Images)\n <\/figcaption> \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n \n

Next month, the company behind an Ohio train derailment that triggered a toxic inferno and national scandal could close a lucrative deal: at the urging of elected officials and company executives, the state\u2019s third-largest city could sell railroad giant Norfolk Southern more than three hundred miles of track \u2014 one of the last publicly owned stretches of rail line in America.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, on February 3, a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, and the company subsequently released a plume of dangerous chemicals over the small town.<\/p>\n

The fiery catastrophe spurred calls for a national crackdown on rail monopolies that have slashed their workforces to pad profits and enrich investors, while\u00a0opposing new safety regulations<\/a>\u00a0on trains transporting hazardous materials.<\/p>\n

While no crackdown has occurred, the cloud of the disaster looms over a November ballot measure in Cincinnati, Ohio, asking voters to approve the sale of the city\u2019s publicly owned rail line to Norfolk Southern, which has been operating on the tracks since the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n

As part of the city\u2019s\u00a0deal<\/a>\u00a0with Norfolk Southern, the rail company agreed to fund third-party campaigns to persuade voters to approve the sale in November. Now, voters are being\u00a0bombarded<\/a>\u00a0with ads and mailers that argue ceding control of the railroad would be a win for residents \u2014 by providing a tax-free source of funding for infrastructure projects \u2014 without naming the buyer.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic ownership gives you control, it\u2019s an inherently flexible ownership form,\u201d said Thomas Hanna, the founder and president of the Institute for a Democratic Economy and Society and an expert on public ownership. \u201cIt allows you as a community to make certain decisions about what you would like to use the asset for \u2014 and what you would like to\u00a0not\u00a0<\/em>use the asset for. There\u2019s a lot of debate about what the railroad is worth in financial terms, but I think we have to consider what the railroad is worth in a larger perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cincinnati is the\u00a0only city<\/a> in America to own interstate rail tracks, and the publicly owned line that runs to Chattanooga is a rare stretch amid a national freight rail system that is almost exclusively<\/a> privately owned and operated.<\/p>\n

The proposed sale would abdicate the city\u2019s ability to use the right of way as it pleases, slamming the door on future possibilities like securing better terms during lease renegotiations, running passenger trains along the line, or using the associated rights of way as a conduit for broadband or renewable energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Voters from across the political spectrum question whether a one-time payment of $1.6 billion is worth relinquishing such a\u00a0valuable asset<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 337 miles of track, signals, tunnels, and other infrastructure, as well as 9,500 acres of right of way. If the sale goes through, the revenue would be put into a trust fund, and the investment\u2019s returns would be used to fund infrastructure improvements for the city.<\/p>\n

Ohio\u2019s US senators, J. D. Vance (R) and Sherrod Brown (D), have vocally<\/a>\u00a0criticized<\/a> Norfolk Southern\u2019s response to the East Palestine derailment and proposed bipartisan rail safety legislation, the Railway Safety Act, to more strictly regulate the rail industry in the wake of the disaster. But neither has weighed in for or against the proposed Cincinnati sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision will be made by the voters of Cincinnati,\u201d Vance said in a statement to the\u00a0Lever.<\/em>\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m doing all that I can in Washington to ensure our rail system is as safe as possible, regardless of who owns it. We do that by passing the Railway Safety Act.\u201d<\/p>\n