Celebration Planned For Rail Purchase
Staff Report
GRENADA – The North Central Mississippi Regional Railroad Authority (NCMRRA) will celebrate its purchase of Grenada Railway with a ceremony in Grenada on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 10 a.m. The ceremony will be held at the depot on First Street.
District 33 Representative Tommy Reynolds reported a number of state officials will be at the ceremony, along with local officials from the eight affected counties and the municipalities within them. Senator Roger Wicker has also committed to attend.
The day will also celebrate the leasing of the railroad’s operation to a subsidiary Iowa Pacific Holdings, LLC, which will continue to use the Grenada Railway name.
“I would have to put it up there among the three most important economic development projects in our area in the last three decades, Reynolds told the Herald. “If we had not preserved this rail line, it would have set back job creation and retention efforts more than we would ever know,” Reynolds said.
Iowa Pacific owner Ed Ellis is going to have two of his antique railroad cars at the ceremony as a backdrop for the stage.
NCMRRA was able to purchase the 187-mile rail line that links Southaven with Canton after its former owners announced plans to abandon the line between Grenada and Canton. The 2014 Missis-sippi Legislature created the NCMRRA has authorized $30 million in bonds to finance the purchase.
Water Valley Mayor Larry Hart was among eight members of the executive committee of North Central Mississippi Regional Railroad Authority that worked on the deal.
“I believe this is a good economic development project for north Missis-sippi. The counties through which the railroad runs will have rail service well into the future,” Hart told the Herald.
Hart also said the project was a four-year effort that was an uphill battle from the start.
“I am pleased to have been able to work on this project,” the mayor added, pointing to strong cooperation from state officials, the legislative delegation in Washington and local officials up and down the line.
The ceremony is the second announcement from the company since the transaction was completed. In late July Iowa Pacific’s Ellis and its marketing director visited Batesville and reported the rail company planned to bring the Polar Express Train Ride to Batesville for the Christmas season this year.
“Batesville is going to make a great place for people to go to the North Pole,” Ellis told The Panolian newspaper during an interview in July.