CINCINNATI — Voters in Cincinnati go to the polls this Tuesday, Nov. 7, to determine whether the city should sell its railway to Norfolk Southern, after a campaign that has seen a host of conflicting claims and endorsements.
The matter, on the ballot as Issue 22, asks voters to approve the sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway — the nation’s only municipally owned interstate railway — to NS in a $1.62 billion deal announced by the city and railroad a year ago [see “Norfolk Southern to buy CNO&TP line …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 21, 2022]. Norfolk Southern and its predecessors have leased the 336-mile line between Cincinnati and Chattanooga, Tenn., since 1881, with the railroad currently paying the city about $25 million annually. The sale is structured so that the money from the deal would go into a trust fund estimated to pay the city about $56 million annually; that money will be used for city infrastructure projects, thanks to a bill passed by the state legislature earlier this year.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval has campaigned in favor of the sale, appearing in a TV ad urging passage of the measure that led to a formal complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission from opponents of the sale. A group of five former mayors has joined Pureval in supporting the sale [see “Mayor stars in ad …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 27, 2023], citing the financial benefits. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen has also offered its endorsement [see “Engineers’ union backs sale …,” News Wire, Oct. 9].
But the deal also has a host of opponents. Some oppose a sale to Norfolk Southern, citing safety concerns in the wake of February’s derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. A group of East Palestine residents joined other sale opponents on Friday outside NS offices in Cincinnati on Friday, WLWT-TV reports. Cincinnati’s chapter of the NAACP is opposed over concerns about the lack of public engagement on the sale, according to WVXU. Some oppose the deal for financial reasons, either because they feel the steady lease income is a better idea, because they think the $1.62 billion sale price is too low, or because they don’t like the provision that the money must be spent on infrastructure. And the group Rail Workers United, in a statement opposing the sale, argues that public ownership is preferable to that of a company “that continues to put profits over people.”
The Surface Transportation Board has already approved the sale, pending the election results [see “Federal regulators OK Norfolk Southern acquisition …,” News Wire, Sept. 20, 2023]. If voters turn the deal down, the city or railroad can terminate the agreement within 30 days; if that happens, negotiations on a new lease would likely resume. The sale agreement came out of negotiations prompted by the impending end of the current lease in 2026.
If the two sides want to try again for voter approval, the city would have to go back to the state legislature for permission to take the issue to the voters again; legislation passed in March allowed only one vote.
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