CN completes $100-million Memphis yard reconstruction

Written by jrood

CN said it has completed of the $100-million multi-year construction project to reconfigure and modernize its Memphis rail classification yard.

"This project transformed
an aged, inefficient rail yard into a state-of-the-art, effectively designed
major terminal capable of handling existing and future traffic quickly and
efficiently," said CN executive vice-president Claude Mongeau, who will succeed
retiring president and chief executive officer E. Hunter Harrison on Jan. 1,
2010. "Today’s yard can handle nearly double the traffic the old facility could
in a 24 hour period." 

Memphis, a major freight
distribution hub, is a key operating center on CN’s North American network. It
is an important destination for freight traffic on the CN system, and the
gateway to CN’s rail operations in the Gulf region. The city is also the
largest U.S. location outside of Chicago where CN interchanges traffic with
four of the major U.S. Class 1 railroads.

The new Memphis yard is
CN’s second largest classification yard in the United States. It has a capacity
of more than 3,100 freight cars with 45 tracks in the classification yard. It
also has 12 receiving and departure tracks ranging in length from 5,000 to
10,000 feet. The revised operation can handle 35 or more freight trains per
day.


It took more than two
years to construct, effectively building a new rail yard on top of an existing
one while never ceasing railroad operations.  The configuration of the old
Johnston Yard created operational challenges that at times affected CN’s ability
to efficiently meet customer needs. The new yard removes those challenges,
creating a terminal that optimizes our ability to move traffic in and through
the yard.

"The old yard was removed
section by section and rebuilt piece by piece," said Keith Creel, CN’s
executive vice-president, operations. "The yard now features the latest
technological enhancements in railroad operations, including the newest
switching technology to maintain safety and efficiency at all times."

The yard reconstruction
also included rebuilding of the terminal’s aged locomotive repair and car shops
and upgrading of the locomotive fueling station.

At a ceremony Sept.24 at
the yard in Memphis, CN also announced the renaming of the facility as Harrison
Yard. E. Hunter Harrison has served as president and chief executive officer of
CN since January 1, 2003. He will retire at the end of 2009 after a railroad career
spanning five decades. Harrison’s railroad career began in 1963 when he joined
the Frisco (St. Louis-San Francisco) Railroad as a carman-oiler in Memphis
while still attending school. 

The original Memphis yard
was constructed in the early 1900s on roughly 345 acres of land and named for
former Illinois Central president Wayne Johnston (president 1945-1966). CN
acquired an additional 88 acres of adjacent property for the yard upgrade
project, which broke ground in early 2006.

The completion of
Harrison Yard comes nearly four years after the opening of Intermodal Gateway
Memphis, a $35-million intermodal terminal operated jointly by CN and CSX Transportation
inside the Frank C. Pidgeon Industrial Park.

Together, Harrison Yard and
Intermodal Gateway Memphis represent a $135-million investment in CN operations
in and around Memphis over the past five years.

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