Norfolk Southern unveils plans for $2 billion rail corridor from New Orleans to New Jersey
Staff -- Logistics Management, 6/8/2007
NORFOLK, Va.—Class I railroad operator Norfolk Southern intends to invest more than $2 billion to build a rail corridor that would span from Louisiana to New Jersey, according to reports from the Associated Press and the Virginian-Pilot.
Dubbed the Crescent Corridor, the company said this initiative, which would expand and improve NS’ rail network from the Northeast to the Southeast, would expedite the delivery of cargo shipments and reduce highway congestion by diverting truck traffic. This news was announced by NS Vice President of Intermodal and Automotive Marketing Mike McClellan at an investment conference in New York earlier this week.
The AP article reported that the state of Virginia has allocated $40 million in seed money for the Crescent Corridor project, which would run along Interstate 81. And it added that NS is seeking additional public money for the project, which McClellan said would reduce highway congestion and vehicle emissions, as well as create economic development opportunities.
The Crescent Corridor would be comprised of approximately 1,400 miles from New Orleans to Newark, N.J., and it would run through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Robin Chapman, Norfolk Southern spokesman, told the AP that two new terminals would be built, in central Maryland and eastern Tennessee.
Depending on financing, construction for the Crescent Corridor would begin in 2008, and the first phase would be completed by 2009, with the entire project being finished by 2013.
According to the Virginian-Pilot, McClellan said the Crescent Corridor came about as Norfolk Southern was looking for ways to expand its intermodal business beyond such routes as its core "Golden Triangle" between Atlanta, Chicago and Harrisburg, Pa. He added that the rail routes encompassed by the Crescent Corridor have little or no intermodal competition while highway congestion on interstates near the rail lines is "increasingly severe.”
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