COLUMBIANA COUNTY Local company seeks to buy port authority's railroad

The director said seven companies are interested in the port-owned railroad.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
EAST LIVERPOOL -- Columbiana County Port Authority officials are negotiating with a local company interested in buying the Central Columbiana & amp; Pennsylvania Railroad Co., Tracy Drake, port authority executive director, said.
Drake said the local company is one of seven that have expressed serious interest in the port authority-owned railroad. He did not identify the local company, adding, however, that the railroad's long-term prospects are good.
He said federal transportation officials project cargo handling in the United States will double in the next 15 years, increasing the need for railroad and maritime commerce.
The bulk of cargo handling now is done by truck, and highways could not be built fast enough to allow double the truck traffic in that period, he said.
The companies contacted Drake after Arkansas Shortline Co., Russellville, Ark., the company that runs the line, filed a bankruptcy declaration in June in federal court in Arkansas.
The bankruptcy imperils nearly a half-million dollars of port authority money.
Details
The Central Columbiana is a single-line railroad that stretches through Columbiana and Mahoning counties. The 37-mile-long railroad has struggled financially despite its being used by about 10 businesses that are served by nearly 5,000 rail cars annually.
The Central Columbiana, a subsidiary of Arkansas Shortline Co., operates the railroad for the port authority as part of a 20-year lease that requires the rail company to pay the port authority $9,000 monthly and to help keep the line operational.
The Central Columbiana missed lease payments and borrowed $450,000 from the port authority to subsidize operation of the rail line, Drake said. He said the port authority also provided cash to get the railroad line operating again after two derailments this spring.
He said the line, which was formerly the Youngstown & amp; Southern Railroad, restarted about three years ago after being mothballed for years.
The railroad had deteriorated and needed a lot of work to become operational again. The port authority has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants to restore the line, but the Central Columbiana was expected to put up money, too, Drake said.
He said money spent subsidizing the railroad is money that could have financed other port authority projects, but the port authority thought it was imperative to keep the line operating and to keep it safe.
tullis@vindy.com