CSX Rocky Mount Project Dead | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Rick Henderson, who is an editor-in-chief for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    Train News Wire, a railroad industry trade publication, reported Thursday the Carolina Connector project, a $272-million intermodal rail hub scheduled for the Rocky Mount area, was canceled by the rail company. The project was set to receive $100 million in subsidies from North Carolina taxpayers.

    According to the story,

• The Rocky Mount terminal was being designed to access the fast-growing Mid-Atlantic market, and 60 percent of its volume was projected to be local traffic. The balance was going to be container sorting and block-swapping that would build the density required to serve smaller markets as part of the hub-and-spoke strategy.
• Construction at Rocky Mount was set to begin in 2018. Subsequent expansion was to push its capacity to 500,000 loads annually, CSX officials had said.
• CSX would not confirm that [CEO E. Hunter] Harrison has scuttled the Carolina Connector.

    Check back with Carolina Journal for more information as it becomes available.