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.