Cities vie to ride folks out on a rail.

• Author: Martin, Edward
• Position: TAR HEEL TATTLER

When it comes to luring more train service to your city, is it better to bad-mouth the competition, poor-mouth yourself or thump your chest? Goldsboro and Fayetteville are competing for a stop on a proposed route from Raleigh to Wilmington by doing all three.

Pat Simmons, director of the N.C. Department of Transportation's rail division, expects up to 40,000 passengers on the new route each year. No cost estimates, construction schedules or economic-impact studies have been released, but the project should provide a big economic boost.

That prospect has Goldsboro and Fayetteville cranking up public-relations efforts, lobbying DOT and trading barbs. Backers of each say their city should get the route partly to help poor surrounding counties.

Each also touts the virtues of its venue. Tim Holverson, executive vice president of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, says his region has about 5,000 college students yearning for rail service to Raleigh and the coast. And Fort Bragg could ship men and equipment through Wilmington instead of Charleston, S.C. "You'd generate a lot of jobs there."

Charles Gaylor, chairman of the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce's transportation committee, says a route through Goldsboro would give freight trains their...