Fearing the loss of shipping traffic and the local salaries and tax revenue that came with it, the city recognized the need to remain competitive.

With wide popular approval, city voters voted for $10 million in municipal bonds in 1869 to begin construction.

[5] This project saw numerous cuts and line relocations to bypass tunnels and reduce the steep grades and tight curves.

This project will straighten a curve near the Kentucky Route 914 bypass overpass, allowing improved train handling.

After two years of leasing the property to local companies, in 1881 the city entered a 25-year lease to an entity called Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway, which was held by an English corporation controlled by German-born Parisian banker Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger.

Soon Erlanger held all five segments of railroad from Cincinnati to New Orleans, and west from Meridian, Mississippi to Shreveport, Louisiana.

In 1894 the CNO&TP was one of many properties reorganized by Samuel Spencer into the vastly expanded Southern Railway.

White firemen of the CNO&TP struck on January 9, 1911, when the company refused their demand that their black counterparts be fired within 90 days.

The CNO&TP's lease of the Cincinnati Southern Railway is currently set to expire in 2026, with an option for a 25-year renewal.

General manifests, local freights, grain, coal, and other bulk commodities make up the rest of the traffic.