Moving Radnor Yard could be game-changer for Nashville transit

In South Nashville off Interstate 65, freight trains and trucks enter around the clock at the second-largest CSX rail yard and transfer facility in the Southeast.

It’s known as Radnor Yard, and since the 1950s, trains have emptied containers, reloaded and reassembled at this spot, next to what is today Harding Place and Sidco Drive.

The noisy, 517-acre industrial rail yard marks one of the most important crossroads for train giant CSX, which owns and operates rail in Nashville and much of the rail east of the Mississippi River.

But increasingly, Nashvillians pushing for a future regional mass transit system in Middle Tennessee have floated a complicated and potentially long shot and even controversial idea — relocate Radnor Yard somewhere else in Middle Tennessee to free the tracks in and around Nashville for new commuter rail.

The idea of moving the Radnor Yard — a proposal the Tennessee Department of Transportation has estimated could cost $767 million — is getting attention once again. The suggestion is perhaps the most ambitious —  some say unrealistic —  of 10 top recommendations outlined in a new transit report called Moving Forward released by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Though costly, those intrigued by the idea argue it would still be cheaper than building a set of track. 

And for CSX, they argue a relocation could offer an opportunity for a new rail yard that would allow for future expansion, which is currently constrained because of nearby residential and industrial uses around the landlocked Radnor site. Freight that today passes through Nashville could be rerouted, relieving what is a CSX bottleneck.

Radnor Yard, which was originally built by the old L&N Railroad, sees 150 rail cars and 450 trucks come through it weekly and freight totaling an estimated $12 million every day. It is the company’s third largest classification rail yard behind facilities in Selkirk, N.Y., and Waycross, Ga.

“This is not a quick fix. This is not a short-term option, but it could be a game-changing kind of play that makes sense for all parties,” said Marc Hill, chief policy officer at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

“If CSX sees it in their best interest to relocate so they can expand their operation and if the state of Tennessee sees this as an economic play not just for the region but for the state, and then the political leadership in Middle Tennessee gets behind, it’s a move that could make a lot of sense.”

National trend

Memphis, Boston, Denver and Houston are among the cities that are planning or have taken steps to move their rail facilities from urban center to other locations, according to the chamber report. The chamber’s recommendation is for Middle Tennessee mayors, state officials and others to “support the planned efforts to discuss” relocating Radnor Yard, not necessarily move ahead with it.

Such a move to an outer part of Middle Tennessee, the chamber says, could open existing CSX rail for commuter trains from Nashville to suburbs like Franklin, Murfreesboro and Gallatin. 

Previous state-led reports have primarily looked at Smyrna as a possible relocation site for Radnor Yard to accommodate the Nissan automobile factory in Rutherford County.   

This past year, as talks about transit in Middle Tennessee have picked up, state transportation officials and members of the Regional Transit Authority met with executives of Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX and raised the possibility of the company sharing its freight rail for transit down the road. 

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Not only did CSX reject that concept, but according to state officials, they also eliminated the possibility of using right-of-ways that run parallel to CSX tracks to one day build rail for transit.

“They made it very clear they were not interested in a situation that would use part of their right-of-way for passenger operations,” said Liza Joffrion, director of TDOT’s multimodal diivision. “So, we’re not just talking about not sharing their tracks — that one’s completely off the table — but even a parallel facility.”

But CSX hasn’t ruled out the idea of opening existing rail to commuter service if freight is diverted by relocating Radnor Yard. Still, the company notes that a formal proposal does not exist. 

“There have been no formal discussions or proposals to relocate Radnor Yard,” CSX spokeswoman Kristin Seay said. “Any proposals would be evaluated for feasibility and operational impact to freight service in Nashville and throughout the CSX network.”

New freight sites

The chamber report references recent freight studies on moving Radnor Yard conducted by TDOT and the Nashville Area MPO, a seven-county body that oversees transportation planning in the region. 

The MPO’s 2010 Freight Study called space limitations at Radnor Yard perhaps the region’s “most significant limiting factor in terms of the usage and growth of rail freight.” The report said some products are being trucked from Memphis to Nashville or directly from ports because of the yard’s lack of space.

The new Regional Transportation Plan adopted this year by the Nashville Area MPO ’s board, which is comprised of Middle Tennessee mayors and other county executives, emphasizes looking at options to relocate Radnor. The MPO is nearing completion of a preliminary analysis on the topic and is expected to look at relocation further in the months ahead.

"The potential benefits to the community are huge, from helping to reduce truck congestion near downtown Nashville, to freeing up freight lines for passenger rail, to opening up land for economic redevelopment,” said Michelle Lacewell, interim director of  the Nashville Area MPO. “For CSX, it could mean fixing one of their major bottlenecks in the eastern U.S.”

In its 2014 Tennessee Statewide Multimodal Freight Plan, TDOT lists the relocation of Radnor Yard as a possible project and suggests Smyrna —  where an existing CSX automobile terminal serves the Nissan automobile plant —  as a possible option. The estimated cost is massive, $767.3 million, and the report does not recommend how to pay for it.

“What’s exciting about the chamber’s recommendations is that when you combine the freight and potential transit benefits of a relocation it may start to look more feasible than when you’re only looking at the freight side of the equation,” TDOT’s Joffrion said.

She said that the goal in moving Radnor Yard elsewhere wouldn’t be to limit local freight that is headed to Nashville, but rather reroute freight that is simply passing through to another destination. Though some communities in Middle Tennessee might not want a rail yard the size of Radnor, Joffrion acknowledged, she suggested others might see it differently. 

“I would imagine there would be some communities that would say, ‘No, not in my back yard. We don’t want that,’ ” she said.  “There may be others that would like to see CSX nearby as an economic development move.”

Though Smyrna has been regularly mentioned as a possible relocation site, leaders of the chamber’s Moving Forward report said a new rail yard would perhaps need to build somewhere even farther from Nashville to clear out rail for transit. 

Brad Winkler, Tennessee area manager of the civil engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, who helped lead a chamber task force on routes, networks and transit modes, said the next round of studies on Radnor Yard need to explore possible relocation sites and outline what a relocation could mean for transit, not just freight.  

For now, the goal is simply dialogue about what would be a monumental project. 

“We’re just trying to get something out there to get the conversation started,” Winkler said. 

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison. 

About Radnor Yard

What: CSX freight yard

Built: 1954, originally for the L&N Railroad

Size: 517 acres

Volume: 150 rail cars and 450 trucks weekly 

Freight value: $12 million daily

Cost to relocate: $767.3 million, according to Tennessee Department of Transportation estimates