Montgomery County has officially filed its lawsuit against the state over its plan to spend $40 million in public funds on the Norfolk Southern intermodal facility in Elliston, the county's spokeswoman said this morning.

The suit alleges the facility violates the state constitution's prohibition on spending state money on private industry. The suit was filed in Richmond Circuit Court, county spokeswoman Ruth Ritchie said.

An intermodal rail yard transfers trailer-sized containers between trucks and rail cars. A state study says the yard itself will employ about a dozen people. Businesses attracted by the rail yard could generate anywhere from 740 to 2,900 jobs in a nine-county, five-city area, according to the study.

The $50.5 million price tag for the site includes about $15 million in public funds set aside to help build a highway that will connect the site to Interstate 81. But the state has promised to cover 70 percent of the facility's costs as well.

Article X, Section 10 of the state constitution bars governments from spending taxpayer dollars on "any work of internal improvement" for a private industry. The constitution makes exceptions for building roads.

The decision to file suit was made during a two-hour closed session during the Aug. 26 meeting of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.

The facility would be part of the Heartland Corridor, a $249 million project that aims to move doubled-stacked freight containers between Columbus, Ohio, and Norfolk faster and more efficiently.