Excerpt from The Plain Dealer (Cleveland):
"Cincinnati is the only municipality in the United States that owns an interstate railroad, the Cincinnati Southern Railroad. The 337-mile railroad reaches south from Cincinnati through Kentucky to Chattanooga, Tennessee. It opened to traffic in 1880." "(NS) has long leased the railroad...as many as 30 trains a day traverse the route...."
"Cincinnati annually receives about $25 million in rent from (NS). Now on the table is a deal, which would require Cincinnati voters' OK, to sell the Cincinnati Southern to Norfolk Southern for $1.62 billion. That money would be placed in a trust whose income could be spent only on existing Cincinnati infrastructure. Annual income to the city from investing the trust is predicted to be significantly more than annual income from rent."
"Ohio's largest employer, the Cleveland Clinic, has six Statehouse lobbyists. Cincinnati's city railway board has 10. The Cincinnati Establishment takes no chances."
----Thomas Suddes, Statehouse reporter for The Plain Dealer
Lobbyists with the Ohio General Assembly don't count for too much when the final approval of the deal is dependent on the voters, and there's probably no sure thing in either direction on this matter.
Assuming that the sale goes through, there may be an adjustment in Norfolk Southern's corporate structure. CNO&TP still exists as the lessee of the Cincinnati Southern. I would assume that it would be absorbed directly into NS as a consequence of the sale.
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