By Rip Watson, Senior Reporter
This story appears in the Jan. 9 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
CSX Corp.’s rail unit on Jan. 3 began offering on-dock rail intermodal service at Portsmouth, Va., marking the latest step in its multistate National Gateway project to expand double-stack service in the eastern United States.
The CSX Transportation service, which reaches locations in the Midwest such as Chicago and in the Carolinas, such as Charlotte, N.C., is being offered in conjunction with the Commonwealth Railway, a short-line operator. That carrier directly serves the APM Terminal, which serves the Maersk Line, the largest ocean carrier.
CSX previously was providing truck drayage service to and from the Maersk facility to its rail network.
The National Gateway is CSX’s public-private venture intended to raise more than $800 million for projects to remove height restrictions such as tunnels and bridges that limit double-stack train services in Ohio, Maryland and other nearby states.
“The new on-dock rail service builds upon the railroad’s National Gateway initiative to improve connectivity and efficiency between U.S. East Coast ports and the Midwest,” a statement issued by the Virginia Port Authority said.
Rates are remaining the same, even though the rail service is replacing the truck drayage, VPA said. Commonwealth Railway, part of Genesee & Wyoming’s rail holdings, hands off the freight to CSX at Suffolk, Va.
CSX is continuing to offer drayage service to connect its Portsmouth rail intermodal facility with other cargo terminals in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area.
The on-dock service follows the opening of CSX’s Northwest Ohio intermodal terminal, located about 50 miles from Toledo, which was designed as a hub for international intermodal shipments to and from cities such as Detroit, Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky.
Other facets of CSX’s project include re-establishing intermodal service in Pittsburgh and a new intermodal terminal between Baltimore and Washington.
The latter facility is designed to funnel double-stack freight to the Port of Baltimore, about 25 miles away.
Norfolk Southern is developing its second public-private intermodal venture, called the Crescent Corridor, between the U.S. Southeast and Northeast. The first project, known as the Heartland Corridor, removed double-stack clearance barriers between the railroad’s terminal facilities in Norfolk and the Midwest. Double-stack trains began running on that route in 2010.
