NS rail facility planned for Antrim Township, Pa.

Written by jrood

Years of planning a second major rail facility in Franklin County will go public next week when Norfolk Southern unveils plans for building near Exit 3 of Interstate 81 in Antrim Township, a company spokesman said Friday, according to local newspapers  

Norfolk Southern will
announce its Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility during a press
conference Augsut12 at the Mason-Dixon Auto Auction. Details of the
announcement will not be made public before that day, despite media reports,
Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said.

 

The facility will be an
anchor for Norfolk Southern’s Crescent Corridor rail route, according to an
invitation to the event. Husband said invitations were sent to about 300
people.

 

Among those invited were
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has proposed $45 million for upgrades to the
company’s railroad system in the Commonwealth, and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster,
R-Pa., who recently announced $3.4 million in federal funding for Exit 3.

 

The Franklin County Area
Development Corp. has been working with property owners and Norfolk Southern to
add a rail facility in the southern end of the county, FCADC President Mike
Ross said.

 

“What we are starting to
see is a series of independent acts that ultimately benefit one another,” Ross
said. “From Shuster’s money to Atapco acquiring land from Perini (Properties
Inc.), we expect that Norfolk Southern will now help bring development to both
the east and west of Exit 3.”

 

Norfolk Southern is in the
process of purchasing more than 200 acres for the site through Atapco
Properties of Baltimore, according to Patrick Coggins, vice president of
development for Atapco.

 

Atapco owns 200 acres
adjacent to the site where Norfolk Southern will build the intermodal facility.
Coggins said having the rail company as a neighbor will give Atapco additional
marketing avenues for that land, known as the Antrim Commons Business Park.

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