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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices

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To: Alighieri who wrote (606533)	4/6/2011 12:33:58 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) of 1577905

Corporations are your friend. How N.C. train deal was nearly derailed Deal concludes despite the freight railway's last-minute haggling for concessions. By Bruce Siceloff bruce.siceloff @newsobserver.com Posted: Monday, Apr. 04, 2011 A deal for $461 million in federal passenger rail improvement grants for North Carolina nearly fell apart last month, public records show, when Norfolk Southern Railway made an 11th-hour attempt to extract new concessions in exchange for its signature. Norfolk Southern wanted the state Department of Transportation to promise not to enforce future court orders that might penalize the freight railroad for causing delays to passenger trains. The company pressed this demand even after state and federal officials insisted it was illegal. Also before it would accept the North Carolina deal, Norfolk Southern wanted the U.S. Department of Transportation to give the railroad favorable terms on a $131 million grant for an unrelated project in Illinois. Officials in both states and Washington refused to link the two agreements. "In spite of extensive work among all parties to develop an agreement over the past nine months, both of these issues only arose within the past 10 days," N.C. Transportation Secretary Gene Conti complained March 18 in a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. North Carolina responded with some arm-twisting of its own, and the deal finally was signed March 21. Norfolk Southern relented after a Florida congresswoman - briefed by North Carolinians - rebuked the Virginia-based railroad in a public hearing for blocking the deal, and after state and federal officials threatened steps that would force Norfolk Southern to forfeit a $105 million grant for freight improvements from Alabama to Pennsylvania. Conti expects in the next couple of weeks to start seeking bids on 24 projects that will create jobs for 4,800 engineering and construction workers in eight counties from Mecklenburg to Wake. Letters and emails from months of high-stakes haggling show that Norfolk Southern stubbornly resisted terms intended to guarantee that the federal grants would pay off with faster, more reliable passenger train service between Charlotte and Raleigh. Read more: charlotteobserver.com

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