Horry County railroad opening postponed until mid-March
Trains won’t begin chugging through Horry County for at least a few more weeks.
Although railroad owner RJ Corman had hoped to have locomotives moving by Tuesday, the tracks are still being repaired and the start date has been pushed back to mid-March, said Bill Henderson, Corman’s vice president of sales and marketing.
“There’s always a few tweaks at the end,” he said. “Just making sure that everything is to our high standards before we get started.”
We don’t take any chances. We’re going to do it the right way or not do it. And for us, we’d rather wait two weeks to do it perfectly than take any chances.
Bill Henderson
RJ Corman’s vice president of sales and marketingHenderson said the maintenance updates aren’t drastic and early inspections have yielded good marks. He expects the early trains will serve the Canfor lumber company in Conway and Carolina Eastern in Marion County. The company hopes to begin sending trains to Metglas, a Conway metal manufacturer, in May or June.
Metglas has been using trucks for much of its shipping since the railroad closed, and the company is working with Corman on a loading site to make sure the area is safe, Henderson said.
The railroad hasn’t seen any traffic since the previous owner, The Carolina Southern, shut down operations in 2011 because some of its bridges failed to meet new federal standards.
Corman purchased the line in August for nearly $14 million. The Kentucky-based company hoped to have trains moving through the area last year, but October’s heavy rains washed out some of the infrastructure, delaying the opening.
Crews have worked overtime restoring the tracks and the company has spent millions repairing the damaged lines.
If the latest work goes as planned, Corman officials plan to start running trains a few weeks before a formal grand opening ceremony on March 30 in Loris.
“We want to make sure it’s really safe,” Henderson said. “We don’t take any chances. We’re going to do it the right way or not do it. And for us, we’d rather wait two weeks to do it perfectly than take any chances.”
Charles D. Perry: 843-626-0218, @TSN_CharlesPerr
This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 6:02 PM with the headline "Horry County railroad opening postponed until mid-March."