City wants details on Norfolk Southern’s $160 million Bellevue yard expansion
The railroad plans to add 275 jobs to a yard staff of 700. City officials learned of it only hours before the announcement.
Norfolk Southern has announced a $160 million expansion of its rail yard north of Bellevue, along with 275 new jobs on top of the 700 people who already work there. City officials say they learned about it officially only on Monday, a few hours before the public announcement.
Safety-Service Director Jeffrey Crosby said there had been rumors for months. A few days earlier, a railroad retiree found a notice about the plans online and passed it to city leaders. Formal word came Monday from Norfolk Southern’s real estate office in Columbus.
Jobs, but not taxes
Crosby said the yard is outside city limits, in the Groton Township fire district, so the expansion will not add to city property tax revenue. New jobs will bring city income tax only if the workers live in Bellevue.
His bigger worry is infrastructure: more trains and trucks wearing on roads, more demand on water, sewer and fire service, and crossing gates down even more often across town. He said the city does not oppose the project but wants to know what is coming. The fire chief has also asked what the expansion will mean for emergency response.
What came next
Two months later the city offered to close two crossings if the railroad agreed to annexation; see that story. Norfolk Southern’s announcements are on its website.
Today’s yard: Norfolk Southern’s Bellevue yard and its jobs. More in Farm & Rail.