News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Nashville and Eastern Railroad has the ability to do more maintenance projects after the state released frozen railroad funding earlier this month.
The Nashville and Eastern Railroad expects to receive $2.6 million dollars from the pot of released funding. Val Kelley is the managing director of the Nashville and Eastern Railroad Authority. He said the money will be used for maintenance on the Caney Fork River Bridge.
“We didn’t get enough money to do a first-class job on it, but we are going to be able to bring it back into stable condition where we can keep getting a train over it,” Kelley said. “That was beginning to be in doubt over the last couple of years. If we lost that bridge there’ wouldn’t be in service to the Cookeville area.”
Kelley said the railroad engineer is currently working on the plans for the project.
The state froze nearly $43 million in funding when the state’s larger railroad companies sued over a state tax that funds upgrades and maintenance for short-line railroads.
The state has ordered TDOT to release $10 million dollars of the total funding through a competitive grant system that short-line railroad companies can apply for.
Kelley said potential grant funding won’t be enough for the Nashville and Eastern to pay off an $8 million USDA loan that was used to extend the line from Cookeville to Monterey.
“All of the above does nothing except spread out your program in a very uneven manner and in a political manner,” Kelley said.
In the meantime, Kelley said the Tennessee Short-Line Rail Alliance will be working to lay out a recommendation to state lawmakers on how they think the funding should be split up.
