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Ten-Mile Rail Line Proposed in Anticipation of Volvo’s Arrival to Berkeley County

camp-hall-map-site-updated BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.–Plans are in the works for a new ten-mile rail line that will connect to the future Volvo site, which sits within Camp Hall Commerce Park in Berkeley County.

On Tuesday, Palmetto Railways, a division of the S.C. Department of Commerce, held a public meeting at the Cross Community Center to introduce the proposed rail line.

The new rail line will connect Camp Hall Commerce Park to existing railroad right-of-way, near the Santee Cooper Cross Generating Station in Berkeley County.

“The project is needed to provide rail access for the development of future industries at the Camp Hall Commerce Park in Berkeley County, South Carolina,” reads the Palmetto Railways website.  “The project will support future economic development opportunities for the region and state, and will provide alternate means of freight transportation for tenants of Camp Hall Commerce Park.”

While project officials say that rail growth is needed to support the state’s needs infrastructure needs and will help alleviate highway congestion involving large commercial trucks, some homeowners worry about the “noise” that will come with the proposed rail line.

“I’ve lived in this area, practically all my life,” Thomas Weldon told WCBD-TV. “We love the quietness and the country part of it. I don’t like the jumbled up area.”

Some homeowners are naturally concerned how the proposed rail line will impact their property. However, at this time a preferred route has not been identified.

The project is expected to take three years to complete.

Volvo has chosen Camp Hall, a Mead Westvaco development about 30 miles west of Charleston to make latest generation Volvo models for sale in the United States and for export. Plant construction will begin in early Fall 2015, with the first vehicles expected to roll off the assembly line in 2018.

 

Nikki Gaskins Campbell
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