| Gaston County has about 14 miles
of dormant rail lines, originally created to serve the textile
industry, now being renovated by the North Carolina Department
of Transportation (NCDOT) to connect businesses in Gaston with
national rail lines.
The main line of the local railway will run from Gastonia to
Mount Holly when completed around July 2010, with a branch line
into Belmont. Discussions have been held with potential local
railway system operators, with possibilities open at this time.
However the NCDOT would stop service at Belmont Abbey, leaving
the town of Belmont out for now, although community leaders hope
to expand into the town in the future.
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| Business titans
Bill Lee and Buck Duke created the system as the Piedmont Traction
Company in 1910 and reorganized the company in 1914 as the Piedmont & Northern
(P&N) Railway. Originally more than a dozen mills were served.
Several local and out of state businesses have expressed interest
in using the railway once it is renovated and a new operator
is in place.
The Gastonia – Mount Holly section will connect the local
railway with a Norfolk Southern main line. Talks have also been
held with CSX, which owns the P&N main line at the Mount
Holly end of the proposed renovated railway, but those discussions
are not yet final.
The central Gaston location is an ideal
distribution corridor parallel to I-85, with access to Charlotte,
Spartanburg and other markets. It would provide a shipping
alternative to trucking – rail
is a green industry able to haul one ton of freight 436 miles
on one gallon of fuel. This means rail is much more efficient
and less expensive per ton carried, especially when gas prices
are high.
The location also provides an ideal transload site, where commodities
are transferred from rail to truck and vice versa. |
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| For now the focus will be freight traffic
within eastern Gaston County, however local leaders hope a new
operator will someday be able to develop a tourist and excursion
service with the possibility of dinner trains and other special
event service. That option hinges on the ability to gain access
into downtown Belmont, which then links to Charlotte.
Leaders hope that commuter rail service
from Gastonia to Charlotte will be restored, similar to the
P&N interurban service that
existed from 1912 to 1951. Those lines end at Bank of America
Stadium near Cedar Street, perfect for trips to see Carolina
Panthers football games or other events in Uptown Charlotte. |
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