BY SHELLY CRUNK DBJ Contributing Writer

What began three years ago as an attempt to maintain rail service for existing industry has become a model of how to effectively get things done.
Then-rail operator ADM, which handled sixty percent of the rail business in Coahoma County, notified the Industrial Authority and Chamber of Commerce that it was going to terminate service. Coahoma County Administrator Hugh Jack Stubbs heard about the impending closure at a Chamber meeting, and reported back to the board of supervisors at their next meeting. He was instructed to immediately make provisions that would keep Cooper Tire in business. Cooper Tire, which provides approximately 240 jobs at their Coahoma County plant, relies on the rail service for their raw materials.
Stubbs was also told to look into making long-range plans for grants and low-interest loans that could be repaid with operational revenue if he indeed found that this railroad project were going to be a feasible, self-supporting operation.
What he found was that saving the railroad could help save Coahoma County.
Running a total of forty-eight miles in two segments, one from Lula in the northern part of the county down to Clarksdale, then a second further south from Clarksdale to Swan Lake, the railroad line serves three main purposes.
First, the railroad provides transportation for existing industry, such as Cooper Tire and various grain operators. Secondly, plans for a new electrical plant adjacent to a current plant call for several structural components to be shipped in via railway car, as they are too large for highway transport. The plant cannot be constructed without these parts. And finally, several new businesses are currently looking at Coahoma County as a possible location once the new power grid is in place to provide the necessary electric power, and once a viable operator is in place providing railroad transportation.
The county took title to the railway in December 2000. The northern twenty miles of the railway were purchased by the county for $700,000, and the southern twenty-eight miles of the railway were donated by Canadian National Railway/Illinois Central Railroad. The total cost of the railway is projected at about $4 million. The railway has been funded entirely without cost to the taxpayers. No general obligation bonds have been issued.
Upgrading and repair were necessary when the county took over the railway. Thus far the county has completed its program to replace 6000 cross ties. A contract has been let to repair all of the bridges along the forty-eight mile stretch. And Stubbs is hopeful that the county will receive a rural development grant to fund the balance of the rehabilitation of the line from Clarksdale to Lula. Stubbs expects to hear about the grant in late May.
The County Board of Supervisors was doubtful that they would be able to secure a permanent operator for the railway, and so legislation was passed this year and will take effect July 1st authorizing the Clarksdale Public Utility to operate the railway if a reliable operator cannot be found. However, the supervisors were wrong on that point, pleasantly wrong. “It really surprised us,” says Stubbs. “We’ve had twenty-two proposals and many more calls” from short line operators. Stubbs says that the supervisors will meet by May 7th, hopefully to narrow the field to one.
Power plants are also taking advantage of the new railway, most particularly at this point for transporting parts of a new plant—such as turbines—into place. The official groundbreaking of the new Clarksdale Public Utility plant, Clarksdale South Plant, will take place on May 10th. Once the plant is built, Aquilla Energy of Kansas City, Missouri has agreed to purchase power, creating a revenue stream to recoup the $130 million in revenue bonds necessary to construct the plant. Furthermore, Yazoo and Clarksdale Public Utilities has formed a joint agency to transport the power, thus benefiting two Delta communities.
The ultimate goal of the Coahoma County railway is to provide adequate rail availability for businesses, both existing and future, benefiting all of Coahoma County. Until all factors surrounding the railway—including the power plant and the railway itself—are complete, “we can’t provide the necessary power if someone wanted to locate” in Coahoma County, says Stubbs. “We need this project to be competitive for the future.”
Some officials at the Chamber of Commerce would like to add a fourth purpose to the railway: excursion trains. It has been suggested that an excursion train would tie into the tourism industry, bringing casino patrons and their spending into Coahoma County.
While the success of an excursion train remains to be seen, one fact is clear. Coahoma County is a sterling example of many people coming together for the betterment of the community as a whole. “Every way we’ve turned,” Stubbs says, “everyone’s recognized the desperate need we have up here. They are really helping us help ourselves.”
Stubbs praises numerous people and agencies for assisting in this monumental task, particularly the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the Mississippi Development Authority, and State Director of the United States Department of Agriculture, Nick Walters. Walters has assigned one staff member full time to the project.
Though the Coahoma railway may seem of benefit only to big business, a trickle down effect would certainly have been felt with its demise. One example is Delta Oil Mill. DOM definitely would have faced higher costs and could possibly have gone out of business without the railway. Serving sixty-one gins with each gin encompassing approximately one hundred and fifty-seven farms, “thousands are indirectly affected” by the railway, says Stubbs. DBJ