NS opens Crescent Corridor terminal in Pennsylvania

Written by Jenifer Nunez, assistant editor
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Norfolk Southern

Norfolk Southern opened its third Crescent Corridor intermodal facility, a $97-million terminal in South Central Pennsylvania that advances the company's multi-state rail infrastructure initiative connecting the Southeast and the Northeast.

The Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility, located on 200 acres south of Greencastle and less than a mile from I-81, will connect Central Pennsylvania, western Maryland and northern Virginia to domestic and world markets, while creating some 126 jobs at the site. The facility, a public-private partnership involving $52 million in NS funds and supported by a $45-million investment by Pennsylvania, is part of the railroad’s Crescent Corridor, a 2,500-mile network of rail and terminals that helps moderate truck traffic on congested roadways and reduce carbon emissions.

“The Crescent Corridor provides tremendous public benefits, such as job creation, reduced long-haul truck traffic and a cleaner, more efficient way to move freight,” Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman said. “Opening the Franklin County facility marks a major milestone in this effort. We thank those who have supported our initiatives in Pennsylvania and across our entire Crescent Corridor, folks who recognize how crucial public-private partnerships are to boosting freight railroad transportation, which provides remarkable economic and environmental benefits to our country.”

The new terminal, with its 670 paved trailer/container parking spots, will be a major gateway for freight in the Mid-Atlantic. NS projects with this facility, combined with other NS terminals in the state, as many as 800,000 long-haul trucks in Pennsylvania will be diverted off roadways in the commonwealth and onto trains by 2020.

The Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility is the third Crescent Corridor intermodal terminal NS has opened since mid-2012, with facilities in Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis, Tenn., having started operations within the past six months. Construction of a fourth Crescent Corridor-related intermodal terminal, located in Charlotte, N.C., is underway.

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