Columbus government sues Norfolk Southern and other railroad companies
The Columbus Consolidated Government has sued Norfolk Southern and other railroad companies to recover land the city argues the companies agreed 175 years ago to return.
Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford, the Columbus law firm representing CCG in the case, filed the complaint Aug. 28 in Superior Court of Muscogee County. The defendants are:
- Norfolk Southern Corp
- Norfolk Southern Railway Company
- Central of Georgia Railway Company
- The South-Western Rail Road Company
- Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Services
- Columbus & Chattahoochee Railroad
- Georgia Southwestern Railroad.
CCG is demanding a jury trial. No dollar amount is specified in the lawsuit, but CCG seeks damages related to the companies’ use of the property, repossession of the property and a permanent injunction against the railroads from “continuing its trespass on CCG’s property.”
In 1847, the railroads requested land from the city for a depot, according to the complaint, and the city agreed, in cooperation with the State of Georgia, because of the benefits a passenger depot would provide to Columbus citizens.
“The Railroad voluntarily accepted the property under these conditions, and has now received the benefit of this agreement with CCG for nearly two centuries,” the complaint says.
CCG passed resolutions giving the railroads use of the land under limitation, intending it always would be for the public good. A deed never was given to the railroads.
Two railyards were created with this transaction between 1847 and 1886, according to the lawsuit, and they were used for more than a century as intended.
By the 1970s, when passenger services ceased in Columbus and the railroads sold or demolished their depots, this triggered the terms that returned the land and title to CCG, the city argues.
“However, the Railroad remains on the property and uses it for its own non-public purposes, which do not include the operation of a depot,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit seeks to restore control of the land to CCG and recover the “losses and damages CCG has suffered by the railroad’s continued use of the property.”
CCG contacted Norfolk Southern about the 67 acres the company occupies, saying the company doesn’t pay rent and only pays a “negligible amount” in property taxes, the complaint says.
In an April 2023 letter to Norfolk Southern, CCG requested possession of the land from Norfolk Southern, payments of back rent and current rent until the company vacates the property. The city also requested the company ensure the completion of the spiderweb project on Buena Vista Road, as the multimillion-dollar project is intended to alleviate traffic congestion caused by the company’s trains crossing the road.
Norfolk Southern responded later that month, arguing that it has the right to use the railyards, that it already was in a cost-sharing agreement with CCG and that it would decline to attend a proposed meeting between the two parties.
“Whatever weight the granting authorities may have had in that regard under state law at the time of their implementation has since been entirely overcome by federal law,” Norfolk Southern said in its response letter.
Norfolk Southern is proud of its presence and investment in Columbus, the railroad’s senior communications manager, Chad Previch, told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email. The company supports economic growth and local industries and strengthens supply chains across Georgia and the Southeast, he said.
“As always, we remain committed to being a responsible partner to the City of Columbus and its residents,” Previch said. “Over the past five years, Norfolk Southern has helped create more than 900 jobs and attract $1.2 billion in industrial investment through 44 economic development projects across Georgia. Our Columbus operations are integral to our success — supporting regional manufacturing, logistics, and agricultural sectors that rely on efficient, sustainable rail service.”
CCG wants the railyard relocated to make more than 30 acres available for development, officials told the Ledger-Enquirer in 2023.
The Ledger-Enquirer has tried to reach CCG and Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford for comment but did not receive a response before publishing.
This story was originally published September 4, 2025 at 1:31 PM.
