NS Calls Off Atlanta Rail Transfer Project
Written by
Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The NS facility was to be located on the former Chattahoochee Brick Co. site, which was said to have relied on convict lease labor to produce millions of bricks between the late 1870s and early 1900s.
Norfolk Southern (NS) has walked away from building a rail transfer facility in Atlanta, Ga., following community opposition and potential litigation.
The Class I railroad’s decision follows the city of Atlanta’s filing Feb. 12 of a petition for preliminary injunction with the Surface Transportation Board (Docket Number: FD 36485; Filing ID: 301626). The filing states: “Despite the historical importance of Chattahoochee Brick, the floodplain, and the environmental conditions on the site, NS and [property owner] Lincoln Terminal have commenced construction of a transload facility on the site without regard to the myriad local health and safety laws and regulations and federal floodplain requirements that apply at this site. Continued physical destruction at the site, which recent research confirms includes a burial site for workers who died while working at the plant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, risks the total loss of a heritage site with substantial historical significance and violates City and State laws which are a legitimate and uniformly applied exercise of state and local police powers. The Board should grant the injunction requested here to prevent irreparable harm to the City of Atlanta.”