Tennessee short line leases Mississippi-to-Kentucky segment from NS (7/12/2001)
7/12/2023West Tennessee Railroad (WTNN) has a new lease on life that could pay off in carloads.
The 43-mile short line recently signed an agreement to lease a 137-mile stretch of Norfolk Southern Railway track that runs from northeastern Mississippi to southwestern Kentucky. WTNN now connects with four Class Is — NS, Canadian National Railway, CSX Transportation and Kansas City Southern Railway — and can offer a shorter route to the U.S. Midsouth from the U.S. Upper Midwest and Northwest, and Western Canada by bridging CN traffic at Fulton, Tenn., to NS and KCS at Corinth, Miss.
The expanded WTNN plans to serve more than 50 western Tennessee customers, including the new 300-acre Gibson County Industrial Park in Humboldt, Tenn. The short line also would boost its carload count to more than 18,000 — including more grain carloads than any other railroad operating in Tennessee, according to a WTNN statement.
The short line, which is in the process of acquiring seven Relco locomotives, plans to begin operating the leased NS segment in early August.
Formed in 1984 to operate a former Illinois Central Railroad branch line, WTNN currently operates between Jackson and Kenton, Tenn.
Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News