Norfolk Southern Plans New Intermodal Terminal
This story appears in the Aug. 24 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Norfolk Southern Corp. said it plans to build a $95 million intermodal terminal in Greencastle, Pa., along the railroad’s proposed Crescent Corridor project to move freight between the South and the Northeast.
The announcement represents the third new intermodal facility that the Norfolk, Va., company hopes to add on a 2,500-mile route network linking Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia with the New York area and surrounding states. Other facilities are planned for McCalla, Ala., near Birmingham, and Rossville, Tenn., near Memphis, using a combination of public and private funds.
The Crescent Corridor, an estimated $2.5 billion project, is the second public-private intermodal development venture pursued by Norfolk Southern. Next year, the company intends to complete the Heartland Corridor, linking the Midwest with ports in the Norfolk, Va., area. Hampton Roads is one of the largest port complexes on the East Coast.
“Because of its strategic location to key markets in the Mid-Atlantic region, the new Franklin County (Greencastle) terminal is vital to the success of our Crescent Corridor,” Wick Moorman, Norfolk Southern’s CEO, said in an Aug. 12 statement.
The Crescent Corridor, named for a passenger train that links New Orleans and New York, includes planned track and signal improvements on the railroad’s lines that parallel key truck routes, such as Interstates 81, 40 and 59. The railroad asserts that it will convert more than 1 million annual shipments from the highway to intermodal through the project.
The Greencastle facility is to be located near I-81 in southern Pennsylvania, about 100 miles from Harrisburg, where the company already has an intermodal terminal whose growth is constrained by surrounding property, company spokesman Rudy Husband told Transport Topics on Aug. 17. It is expected to be operational late in 2011.
Husband said Norfolk Southern expects the states along the Crescent Corridor to apply for so-called TIGER, or Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, funds from the federal government’s economic stimulus program.
The Greencastle facility, planned for 95 acres adjacent to the proposed Antrim Commons Business Park, is slated to handle 85,000 shipments a year from four trains a day.
The company also intends to upgrade existing intermodal terminals in Harrisburg and Philadelphia to accommodate additional business and to make $27 million in track and signal upgrades in the state.
The company said the Greencastle site selection was given “careful and exhaustive consideration to minimize impacts on surrounding communities, roadway facilities and the environment.”
Terminal location has been an issue in the Heartland Corridor, where Montgomery County, Va., has sued the state for agreeing to locate an intermodal terminal in rural Elliston.
The $249 million Heartland project, which includes improvements to 28 tunnels to accommodate double-stack trains, is being funded primarily by federal and state money.
Nine of the 28 tunnels along the route already have been completely expanded, and the plan maintains a summer 2010 start date for double-stack service along the route.
“Rail freight is an important component of any transportation infrastructure discussion,” Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell (D) said in the railroad’s statement. “This facility will create good jobs, generate revenue, and help reduce highway congestion. Pennsylvania has invested heavily in rail freight because it is a smart, environmentally friendly, cost-effective infrastructure investment.”
“We commend Gov. Ed Rendell for his efforts to provide state funding for our intermodal terminal initiatives in Greencastle and Philadelphia,” Moorman said in his statement.
