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Legislative Briefs http : //www .joumalnow . com/news/local/local/genassembly/legbrfs30 . htm <br /> clicki <br /> ffl 'Etl" AU "WNSURAMU QUOTES NOW <br /> N � <br /> A & E I ASKSAM I BUSINESS I CLASSIFIEDS I CYBERGUIDE I HOME I LIVING I NEWS <br /> L � <br /> s OPINION 1 SEARCH I SPEAK OUT l SPORTS i THE WIRE I TV LISTINGS I WEATHER <br /> IV <br /> Legislative Briefs <br /> An n� �► r . <br /> . ........ . . <br /> Committee removes provisions favoring <br /> railroad <br /> GE114ERAL 4, JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT <br /> A. Y <br /> General Assembly RALEIGH -- Legislators agreed yesterday to delete <br /> coverage <br /> a provision that would have made it easy for the <br /> Web Link: North Carolina Railroad to remove hundreds of <br /> N . C . General <br /> Assembly buildings , roads , parking lots and other <br /> Home Page encroachments along a 200400t-wide corridor that <br /> spans the railroad' s 317 -mile route . <br /> The railroad = - which is owned by the state but <br /> operates as a private company -- - owns tracks <br /> running from Charlotte to Morehead City , and <br /> leases the tracks to passenger and freight-train <br /> companies . <br /> Under one provision of a bill to restructure the <br /> railroad, a Superior Court clerk would initially <br /> decide whether the owner of the structure or the <br /> railroad had a rightful claim to the land . If the clerk <br /> were to side with the railroad, the structure would <br /> have to be removed within 15 days , regardless of <br /> whether an appeal is filed . <br /> Members of a state House subcommittee removed <br /> that provision yesterday . <br /> Railroad officials estimate that hundreds of <br /> encroachments exist illegally in the railroad' s right <br /> of way , which runs through Greensboro , <br /> Thomasville , Lexington and Kannapolis . <br /> If the bill is approved in its amended form, railroad <br /> officials would have to go through a lengthy legal <br /> process to get the land back . <br /> Legislators also removed a controversial provision <br /> that would have given the railroad the right to the <br /> ground beneath the right of way and the air above it, <br /> as well as the ability to quickly condemn land for <br /> rail -related projects . <br /> 1 of 3 6/30/2000 2 : 18 PM <br />