Company moves to purchase rail line

HIGH SPRINGS – Although it appears the railroad line between High Springs and Newberry may soon be formally abandoned by CSX Transportation, Inc., another company appears to be stepping up to the plate to continue service on that short line.

Seaside Holdings, Inc., of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., has formally expressed its intent to file an offer of financial assistance by purchasing the 11.62-mile section of rail line.

CSX and Florida Northern Railroad Company, Inc., the company that has been running the line between the two cities since 2005, have jointly filed a request with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in Washington, D.C. to abandon the line and discontinue service.

“Abandonment is the last step railroad companies must go through when they have exhausted all other means of making the line profitable, “said Jo Ann Burroughs, manager of network services for CSX. Last August, CSX began writing letters to a number of different government and local entities after Florida Northern embargoed the line in 2011.

“In the abandonment/discontinuation of service process, someone else can make an offer of financial assistance to purchase the line under consideration,” Burroughs said. The Surface Transportation Board investigates the company making the offer and determines whether they are financially responsible. Seaside Holdings had to pay a filing fee, typically a couple of thousand dollars, to submit a notice of intent to file an offer of financial assistance with the Surface Transportation Board.

CSX is in the process of gathering information to help them determine the value of the property. If CSX submits an amount that the purchaser doesn't agree to, they can negotiate. If they cannot come to terms, the STB can determine the value, Burroughs said.

CSX's attorney, Louis Gitomer, will present the estimated value to the STB in Washington on or near March 17.

Although CSX is unaware of how Seaside Holdings intends to use the line exactly, the STB's regulations indicate that the intent is to run that portion of the line as a railroad. If the line is successfully transferred, STB's regulations stipulate that the purchaser cannot transfer the line or discontinue service for two years. If they want to sell it to someone other than CSX, they will have to wait five years to do so.

The STB's process required CSX to send letters of their intention to abandon that portion of the line to the Florida Department of Transportation, Alachua County, the State of Florida Historic Preservation Officer, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Newberry City Hall, U.S. Fish & Wildlife, the High Springs Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service, the National Geodetic Survey, Alachua County Office of Management and Budget and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Coastal and Environmental Clearing House.

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