CSX Transportation has announced that it will lease 200 miles of its unprofitable Mountain Subdivision trackage, that starts in Richmond and follows an arc across Virginia to a private company.

A deal is near that would lease the track to Buckingham Branch Railroad, a small company in Buckingham County, officials said.

The rail runs north through Gordonsville, Orange, Charlottesville, Staunton and Clifton Forge.

While officials have confirmed the agreement, they have offered few details. According to an article published Wednesday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Buckingham Branch would be charged with maintaining the track and bridges and CSX would maintain the right to operate trains on the new line.

Karen J. Rae, director of the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation, said that given the economic conditions of the nation's railroad companies, the lease would be a "win-win" because the track remains open with a Virginia-based company.

It might also become profitable as a short line, CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said.

A short-line operator generally has lower operating costs because it's not bound by union rules and wage scales, and because it serves a smaller customer base.

But the lease deal was immediately met with criticism by the union representing 400 track workers in Virginia.

"The union's going to lose the better-paying jobs, and taxpayers will take care of the tracks," said Randall Brassell, of the Allied Eastern Federation of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes. "The whole deal is a scam to get the taxpayers to maintain the track."

Brassell said up to 20 railroad maintenance workers will be laid off as a result of the takeover, and the company will benefit from nearly $3 million in state rail-preservation grants given since 1993 to make upgrades and repairs in the Dillwyn area.

Rae dismissed the allegations. She said the state divides only about $3 million each year into grants to nine short-line operators and plans no major maintenance.