Short lines: NASA Railroad's future in question

Came across this article in Progressive Railroading regarding the future of the NASA short line railroad.

Later this year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is scheduled to launch the final space shuttle mission, bringing to a close the agency's 30-year space shuttle program.

What that program's end will mean for NASA's short-line railroad at Kennedy Space Center has yet to be determined.

"That's the $64 million question," says George Diller, a NASA spokesman.

As the shuttle program winds down to its final launch this summer, the space center's basic infrastructure, which includes the NASA Railroad, is under review, Diller says.

For the past 30 years, the short line has been an important component of the shuttle program, providing a system for transporting the solid rocket boosters from ATK Aerospace Systems' Utah manufacturing plant to the space center on Florida's east coast.
Private Railroads Play a Part

The solid rocket boosters are transported in eight-piece segments during a seven-day journey over track owned by Union Pacific Railroad, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern Railway, CSX Transportation and Florida East Coast Railway (FEC), says Dave Hoffman, who managed the NASA Railroad for 13 years until he retired in 1996.

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/p ... ion--25734

Hopefully they are able to keep the railroad operating even when the shuttle missions end.