U. S. Army-operated track with trains 

 carrying ammunition and chemicals 

 through the town of Boiling Springs, 

 where residents and army engineers 

 have reported sinkholes forming un- 

 der the railroad and trestle. Traffic 

 moves there at 5 mph. 



There are other such problems with 

 the coastal region's rail corridors — 

 some already being remedied. Ac- 

 cording to the studies, most of the 

 track in the area would have to be im- 

 proved in order to meet traffic projec- 

 ted for 1985. 



Navigation 



Overhauling the railroads won't 

 solve all the transportation problems 

 facing the coal export industry in 

 North Carolina. At the ports and ter- 

 minals, the question is how to float big 

 shipments in relatively shallow waters. 

 The tendency among coal transporters 

 is toward bigger ships and shipments, 

 which produce higher profits. At 

 Morehead City, one of the few "deep- 

 water ports" in the East, the channel 

 and turning basin are dredged to only 

 about 42 feet in depth. Gulf- 

 Interstate, the Texas company that 

 wants to develop a large terminal on 

 Radio Island and share the channel 

 with the port, has already announced 

 that it wants to dredge the channel to 

 55 feet, initially, so that it can handle 

 ships of a moderate weight-class. The 

 company has said it hopes the channel 

 could eventually be dredged to 65 feet 

 or more, to accomodate even bigger 

 ships. The bottom of the channel is 

 sandy and easily dredged, but achiev- 

 ing a depth of 55 feet would necessitate 

 doubling, at least, the length of the 

 channel, to over seven miles. Jetties 

 are proposed to protect the channel. 

 Sites for depositing the dredge spoil are 

 reaching capacity, and, the costs of 

 such operations are very high. 



Terminals around Wilmington 

 would have another obstacle. The 

 Cape Fear River can not be dredged 

 much deeper than its present 38 feet 

 without striking limestone formations 

 and rock outcroppings. Says Paul 

 Cribbens, a North Carolina State Uni- 

 versity engineer who has been study- 

 ing the problem as part of the 

 Transportation Institute's study: "It 

 looks like we'll have to consider the 

 possibility of shallow-draft boats 

 rather than dredging in the 

 Wilmington area." 



Cribbens has studied alternatives to 

 the rail-to-port transportation scheme 

 and offers three "scenarios" that he 

 says deserve further investigation: 



— In either the Neuse or Pamlico 

 river, cranes could load coal from rail 

 cars onto barges, which could in turn 

 make their way to port, or rendezvous 

 with coal ships at sea. This plan would 

 help avoid the New Bern-to-Morehead 

 rail corridor. 



— In Wilmington, where waterways 

 are less crowded, wider, shallow-draft 

 ships could be used, sparing the need 

 for deeper dredging. 



— Coal stockpiled at a convenient 

 location could be moved in underwater 

 pipelines to ships waiting in an 

 offshore terminal, well clear of con- 

 gested coastal areas. 



But as Cribbens and others point 

 out, all of these plans have costs and 

 risks. Barges loaded with coal could 

 clot waterways and create traffic con- 

 flicts. Spills and accidents could have 

 grave consequences for aquatic life in 

 the rivers. Projections for a slurry 

 pipeline proposed by Whelebrater- 

 Frye indicate the pipeline would pump 

 several million gallons of water out of 



