News & Updates
CSX hub takes shape
The Sentinel-Tribune (Bowling Green, OH)
May 12, 2010
Hyundai Intermodal Switches to CSX
The Journal of Commerce (Online)
May 10, 2010
CSX: Rail projects will provide jobs, reduce fuel costs
The Daily American (Somerset, PA)
April 24, 2010
Bright Side: CSX creates more jobs in N. Baltimore
ABC 13 News
April 22, 2010
CSX also considers interstate alternative
Northern Virginia Daily
March 1, 2010
Valley to get share of rail funds
Warren Tribune Chronicle
February 18, 2010
Paving The Path To Progress
Inbound Logistics
January 2010
CSX bridge-tunnel projects snare $98M in U.S. funding
The Toledo Blade (OH)
February 18, 2010
CSX gets stimulus funds to expand freight capacity
The Associated Press
February 17, 2010
DOT Awards Tiger Grants
The Journal of Commerce (Online)
February 17, 2010
Maryland could benefit from 2 large federal grants
The Baltimore Sun (MD)
February 17, 2010
CSX gets $98M stimulus rail grant
The Pittsburgh Business Times (PA)
February 17, 2010
CSX project talks on tap
The Martinsburg Journal (WV)
January 30, 2010
National Gateway's Ohio terminal will be high-tech, 'green' facility, CSX says
Progressive Railroading (online)
January 29, 2010
CSX National Gateway
Virginia Maritimer Magazine (Norfolk, VA)
January-February 2010
New Pathways (Excerpt)
Site Selection Magazine (Online)
January, 2010
Rail project seems worthy development
The Warren Tribune Chronicle (OH)
January 15, 2010
National Gateway corridor project seeks to add capacity to rail lines
The Pittsburgh Business Times (PA)
January 15, 2010
Bridge overhaul planned: Three spans in Charlestown, stretch of S.R. 5 to be improved
The Ravenna Record Courier (OH)
January 14, 2010
Intermodal: On the Right Track
World Trade Magazine (Skokie, IL)
January 4, 2010
National Gateway addresses need for infrastructure improvements
Railway Track & Structures
December 23, 2009
CSXT to speed up work on its National Gateway project
Railway Track and Structures
December 21, 2009
CSX to Speed Up Work to Clear Tracks for Double-Stacks
The State Journal (Charleston, WV)
December 20, 2009
CSX to Speed Up Work to Clear Tracks for Double-Stacks
The State Journal
December 20, 2009
Washington Grove, Md., wants tracks down, not bridge up
Railway Track and Structures
December 9, 2009
CSX project talks on tap
The Martinsburg Journal (WV)
January 30, 2010
By John McVey
Residents will have an opportunity to learn more about CSX Transportation's National Gateway Clearance Project during an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Quality Inn in Harpers Ferry.
The multi-state project is to enlarge - and thus increase the clearance - of tunnels and underpasses to accommodate trailers or containers stacked two high on rail cars. The practice is called double-stacking and allows trains to haul more freight.
The local portion of the project impacts the Graham Tunnel at Magnolia in Morgan County, Harpers Ferry Tunnel at Sandy Hook, Md., Catoctin Tunnel at Catoctin, Md., and Point-of-Rocks Tunnel at Point of Rocks, Md.
"We see a lot of benefit and fundamentally support it," said Patrick Donovan, executive director, West Virginia Public Port Authority, which has been working with CSX on the project.
According to the National Gateway Clearance Project Web site, the total cost of the project is $842 million and is funded through a private-public partnership between CSX, based in Jacksonville, Fla., along with state governments and the federal government.
The Web site, at www.nationalgateway.org, states that CSX and its affiliates have committed $395 million to the project; the states are expected to contribute $189 million; and the federal government has been requested to put in $258 million.
Donovan said West Virginia's share would be $5 million, which has been requested by CSX, but the state has not made any financial commitment to the project so far. The total cost of the West Virginia portion is $62 million, he said.
The local portion is part of the Interstate 70/Interstate 76 Corridor Clearance Project, which runs between Washington and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh, and includes upgrading tracks in addition to increasing the clearance of tunnels and underpasses.
The project also includes the construction of a new intermodal terminal near Pittsburgh.
CSX officials and rail proponents say the project will reduce long-haul truck traffic on the highways, reducing shipping costs and transit times; pollution, such as ground-level ozone; and fuel consumption.
The I-70/I-76 corridor connects with the Interstate 95 Corridor between Baltimore and North Carolina and the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, N.C.
Norfolk Southern railroad has a similar project planned for its Crescent Corridor between New Orleans and New Jersey, which runs through Jefferson County, and is expected to relieve truck traffic on Interstate 81 and other local highways.
Norfolk Southern completed the Heartland Corridor Project through southern West Virginia. It "enables double-stacked international maritime and domestic containers to be transported by rail between the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and locations in the Midwest by raising tunnel clearances and modifying other overhead obstructions in western Virginia, West Virginia and through to Columbus, Ohio," according to the Norfolk Southern Web site.
A spokesman for CSX was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Read the article at The Martinsburg Journal »
Learn more about National Gateway clearance projects at Graham Tunnel (Magnolia, MD), Harpers Ferry Tunnel (Sandy Hook, MD), Catoctin Tunnel (Catoctin, MD) and Point of Rocks Tunnel (Point of Rocks, MD).
Special train at Port of Wilmington signals completion of Carolina Corridor
North Carolina State Ports Authority Newsletter (Wilmington, NC)
December 2009
A special CSX train carrying double stacks of 100 empty 40' refrigerated containers for Yang Ming Line arrived at the Port of Wilmington on Monday, December 7, in conjunction with the completion of the National Gateway Carolina Corridor.
A National Gateway news release announced the completion of double stack clearances between the Port of Wilmington and Charlotte, North Carolina. (National Gateway Announces Completion of Carolina Corridor.)
The new, double-stack cleared section of track will link into an improved freight rail corridor designed to enhance the flow of goods throughout the nation. It was funded through a partnership between CSX Transportation, the State of North Carolina, NCDOT and the North Carolina State Ports Authority.
The refrigerated containers were brought to the Port of Wilmington to support strong export demand. Frozen poultry and pork rank in the top five export commodities at the Port with over 93,000 tons exported last year.
"We are pleased to partner with CSX Transportation and the State Ports Authority to provide double-stack intermodal capability for our retail markets," said North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) Secretary Eugene A. Conti, Jr. "This is an important component of North Carolina's logistics plan, which will benefit regional businesses and the economy."
"The Port of Wilmington is looking forward to having full connectivity to the National Gateway initiative for intermodal service. We provide quick turnaround for unit trains with enhanced on-dock rail including a new 5,300-foot interchange track and modern reach stackers that are ideally suited to handle containers between the port terminal and intermodal rail network," said Glenn Carlson, vice president of business and economic development, North Carolina State Ports Authority.
"We are pleased that CSX has offered a service between the Port of Wilmington and Portsmouth," said Jared Hollemon, port manager-Wilmington & Norfolk, Yang Ming America.
"Historically, Yang Ming Line has repositioned empty reefers via coastwise vessel move or trucking from nearby ports. Having a third option would allow us to stay ahead of the demand."
For more information about the National Gateway, visit www.nationalgateway.org
Readying for busy future, CSX adds local jobs, optimism
Business Courier of Cincinnati
December 6, 2009
Dan Monk
CSX Corp. relocated 47 jobs to Cincinnati from Jacksonville, Fla., in mid-October as it established a new dispatching center in Queensgate.
The new center has 32 dispatchers and 15 support staff to track all CSX trains on 1,100 miles of rail between Toledo; Nashville, Tenn.; Evansville, Ind.; and Washington, D.C. The company is decentralizing its dispatching operations as it braces for a predicted increase in freight traffic nationwide.
"It's something we're doing all around the system," said spokesman Bob Sullivan.
CSX is working on an $842 million upgrade to its rail system in Ohio, Pennsylvania and along the mid-Atlantic coast. Its National Gateway project includes the construction of an intermodal hub near Toledo that would enable train traffic from the West Coast to bypass Chicago. The new hub in North Baltimore is expected to boost freight traffic on a CSX line that runs parallel to Interstate 75 between Toledo and Cincinnati.
"The fact that they're increasing jobs here at a time when everyone knows that freight traffic is going to increase incredibly over the next decade confirms that this region and Ohio are very important to their business plan," said Mark Policinski, executive director of the OKI Regional Council of Governments.
OKI's freight working group has been planning rail improvements to increase Cincinnati freight traffic. The region's two major rail yards are operating under capacity. One OKI report indicates the Gest Street yard in Queensgate can handle nearly three times its current volume, while a yard in Sharonville is only 10 percent full.
In addition to supporting the CSX National Gateway project, OKI last year committed $1 million to a pair of bridge projects in Butler County. That's part of a plan to enable double-stack shipments of freight between Cincinnati and Columbus, where Norfolk Southern opened the $69 million Rickenbacker Intermodal Facility in 2008.
"Our ability to move goods is going to be very important to our ability to compete in the world economy," Policinski said. "It's rolling commerce."
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Rail freight project touts environmental benefits
Fleet Owner
December 2, 2009
Rail project hinges on tunnels, bridges
The Maryland Business Gazette (Gaithersburg, MD)
November 27, 2009
CSX would allow double-stack trains through Mid-Atlantic
The Herald-Dispatch
November 14, 2009
Jean Tarbett Hardiman
As Prichard and southwestern West Virginia get ready Norfolk Southern Corp.'s double-stacked trains to move through, the eastern part of the state is looking forward to a project by CSX.
The rail company also is planning to embark on a project to raise tunnels to accommodate double-stack trains through the Mid-Atlantic region.
The $842 million National Gateway project would affect Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from trucks on the highway, as well as saving $3.5 billion in shipper and logistics costs, significantly increase freight capacity, reduce transit times between West Coast ports and major population and triple the market access potential for some ports on the East Coast.
There's a prediction that freight transportation is going to increase by 70 percent over the next 20 years, said CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan. Moving it to rail rather than trucks will reduce greenhouse emissions, he said.
"What (using double-stacked trains) does is really open access to more markets and service, so shippers in West Virginia have easier access to markets they have now," Sullivan said. "It also will ease the flow of goods into West Virginia as well."
The path of the double stacked trains would stretch from Wilmington, N.C., up the East Coast and northeastward through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Along the National Gateway, the nearest intermodal distribution facility to West Virginia will be in Pittsburgh.
CSX is committing $395 million to the National Gateway project, and it's asking for $258 million in federal stimulus grants through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grants Program. State's are being asked for $250 million.
About $60 million will be spent in West Virginia, to clear six tunnels in the state. But West Virginia is being asked to contribute $5 million to the project, Sullivan said.
Valley rails to get revamp
Warren Tribune Chronicle
November 8, 2009
Ron Selak Jr.
WARREN - A nearly $850,000 million public and private effort to connect mid-Atlantic ports to midwest U.S. population and manufacturing markets using double-stack trains has railroad improvement projects scheduled for Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
What's going to be done locally includes bridge replacement and other projects necessary to provide the vertical clearance to allow train cars hauling two shipping containers stacked on top of one another.
It's part of a larger CSX Transportation initiative to more efficiently ship goods from east coast ports as they anticipate a large increase in freight traffic in the next decade, said railroad company spokesman Bob Sullivan.
"The idea is to increase the efficiency of rail by creating this corridor that will enable us to utilize existing technology, but very efficient and effective technology that allows us to stack shipping containers two high," Sullivan said.
The effort would decrease pollution and fuel use by reducing the amount of freight traveling on midwest U.S. highways, Sullivan said.
In Niles, the steel and wooden Fifth Street bridge will be replaced to provide the necessary clearance.
Rusty Orben, director of Public Affairs for Ohio CSX, said the project is among nine replacement or improvement projects included in the CSX initiative that's being paid for with $20 million in federal economic stimulus dollars. Work on the projects is set to begin next year, he said.
It was decided to replaced the structure because lowering the tracks was not geologically feasible, removing it permanently drew concern from safety services and raising the existing bridge drew worry because of it's age.
It made more sense to replace a more than 100-year-old bridge, Orben said.
"At the end of the day, you still would have a single lane bridge that was built in 1904," Orben said.
CSX requires bridges to be built with 23 feet of clearance to accommodate the double-stack trains.
There are 17 included projects in the CSX plan: Nine bridge replacement or improvement projects and the rest, mostly track lowering projects, Orben said.
Other local projects include replacing the Rock Springs Road bridge and building a rail interlock in Newton Falls and removing portions of an abandoned railroad bridge between Northwest Avenue and the Mahoning River in Youngstown.
The last clearance project is in Ashland County. Farther west, the system already can accommodate the double-stack trains, Orben said.
Sullivan said the initiative is a public/private combination and CSX is contributing $395 million. The rest, a combination of state and federal grants, will allow CSX to prepare for increased train volume and simultaneously, benefit the areas where the improvements are happening, Sullivan said.
In Ohio, it's estimated the public benefits would be $1.8 billion.
"We're making a substantial investment and it is with the benefit of public investment," Sullivan said. "We're able to do that much more and the public is able to get that much more benefit out of it."
Of the $842 million project, about $395 million is for clearance projects, including about $172 million to improve the Virginia Avenue tunnel in Washington D.C. About $447 million is terminal construction and improvement, Orben said.
In the summer, work began on a new intermodal terminal in North Baltimore to serve as a distribution hub.
"This is not new or experimental," Sullivan said. "It's extremely safe and used across the county. It's been found to be very effective, to be very safe."
National Gateway seeks investment in rail
KEYSTONE EDGE
October 22, 2009
Chris O'Toole
Aiming to clear choke points on the freight rail lines between East Coast ports and Cleveland, a national effort backed by rail advocates including CSX Corporation is aiming to improve 192 miles of lines in western Pennsylvania within the decade. The National Gateway advocates a public-private partnership for the massive infrastructure project, which would allow continuous double-stack freight car traffic from the East Coast to Cleveland.
Citing forecasts of a 67 percent increase in the freight industry by 2020, the project argues that a $700 million regional rail upgrade will ease congestion, create jobs throughout the region, and reduce pollution. Rail advocates argue that every rail car trip removes approximately three freight truck trips from congested highways.
The I-76/I-70 rail corridor in Western Pennsylvania is one of three regions targeted for improvements under the proposal, which envisions Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania each contributing to the project.
"Right now, it's tough to get through Pennsylvania. There are problems with overhead bridges. In some other locations, not necessarily Pennsylvania, it's a tunnel," says CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan. "You can lower the track or raise the bridges. For both things, you're going to work with the state."
CSX, which owns and operates the Pennsylvania lines, would contribute 47 percent of the project's cost, with affected states sharing the balance. Ohio has applied on behalf of all states for $258 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economy Recovery (TIGER) discretionary funds, created as part of the federal stimulus package.
"Our goal, if federal funding comes through, is to have most of work done by end of 2012," says Sullivan. "We're really looking at 2015. That is when the expansion of the Panama Canal is supposed to be done." Canal improvements to allow bigger freighters through locks will bring more cargo to East Coast ports.
New intermodal facilities, like the one off I-81 in Chambersburg, offer other efficiencies, says Sullivan. The south-central site is used by Schneider, Swift, Pacer and Celtic to transfer freight between rail and truck. "We are seeing some growth in traffic , and will see other companies put distribution centers close by," says Sullivan. Target, Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Sears are among the major customers of the center. Another intermodal center is envisioned opposite the Conway Yards on the Ohio River northwest of Pittsburgh.
Source: Bob Sullivan, CSX; Wes Irvin, National Gateway
Transportation infrastructure: National Gateway receives award from the North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum
Progressive Railroading
October 8, 2009
Add more than four dozen to the growing number of supporters for CSX Corp.'s National Gateway intermodal corridor. Yesterday, the National Gateway public-private partnership (PPP) announced the corridor has attracted about 50 new backers since June 1, pushing the total number north of 140.
The $842 million initiative calls for creating a double-stack intermodal route between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern markets. The work includes raising bridges, increasing tunnel clearances and building new terminals along existing corridors.
The PPP has gained backing from public- and private-sector leaders, including governors, other state officials and local representatives in six states, according to the National Gateway. In addition, more than three dozen members of Congress, three port authorities and a large number of shippers, ocean carriers, business organizations and environmental groups have pledged their support.
To date, CSX has committed $395 million to the project and the PPP has requested $258 million from the federal government through a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant. States are expected to provide $189 million for the gateway, which recently was honored as the "Competitiveness Project of the Year" by the North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce recently awarded a $6 million economic development grant to the Jacksonville Port Authority to help finance improvements to the Blount Island Marine Terminal's rail system.
The authority will use proceeds to replace 3.5 miles of worn rail and replace ties along the 40-year-old system. The port will provide $1.7 million in matching funds. CSX uses the 14-mile Blount Island rail system, which is owned by the port, to serve the terminal and a U.S. Marine Corps unit.
Transportation infrastructure: National Gateway receives award from the North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum
Logistics Management
By Jeff Berman
September 29, 2009
The National Gateway, an $842 million public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure initiative designed to provide a highly efficient freight transportation link between the Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest, was recently honored as "Competitiveness Project of the Year" by the North American Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum (NASILF), an infrastructure identification and development organization.
The NASILF award, according to The National Gateway Council, was given to The National Gateway for being the project that contributes most to the North American region's capacity for global competitiveness.
The National Gateway was first unveiled by Class I railroad carrier CSX Corporation in May 2008. CSX and its affiliates have contributed $395 million in funding contributions to this effort to date, with states—including Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia—expected to contribute $189 million and another $258 million requested from the federal government.
When the project is completed, CSX officials said it will provide greater capacity for product shipments in and out of the Midwest, reduce truck traffic on congested highways, as well as create thousands of jobs that will directly or indirectly support the National Gateway. The company explained that the National Gateway will be comprised of the following: the building or expansion of several high-capacity, job-producing intermodal terminals where product shipments are exchanged between trucks and trains; and CSX collaborating with state and federal government agencies to create double-stack clearances beneath public overpasses along the railroad, which allow each train to carry roughly twice as many cargo boxes.
The National Gateway will focus on three existing rail corridors that run through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia: the I-70/I-76 Corridor between Washington, D.C. and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh; the I-95 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore via Washington, D.C.; and the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Officials at The National Gateway Council said that this project will "improve American competitiveness in global markets, create jobs, reduce transportation related emissions and alleviate congestion on roads and highways." They added that every dollar spent on the National Gateway returns $6 of public benefits by increasing freight capacity and reducing transit times between East and West Coast ports and major population centers by 24-48 hours.
A CSX executive said last year that this effort will highlight the effectiveness of intermodal transportation, in terms of economic and efficiency gains.
"Intermodal transportation combines the efficiency of rail with the flexibility of trucks," said CSX Intermodal President James Hertwig at the 2008 Transcomp event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "As our nation faces combined pressures from an increasingly globalized economy and deteriorating transportation infrastructure, it is critical that we work together to bolster this pillar of our national economy."
And industry analysts have told LM that the National Gateway, continues the model to bring in a wide variety of constituents to support efforts to add infrastructure capacity, as well as highlight how intermodal cooperation is critical both now and in the future to boost freight movement in the National Gateway's corridors.
Governors of OH, PA, MD, WV, VA Sign Joint Resolution in Support of National Gateway
New request for stimulus funds to include I-95 repair
Philadelphia Inquirer
Tom Infield
Fri, Sep. 11, 2009
HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania will apply for federal stimulus money to help rebuild a 10-mile stretch of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia and to upgrade two rail corridors in the state.
Transportation Secretary Al Biehler, speaking yesterday at a meeting of the state's Stimulus Oversight Commission, said the three projects "stood out" among 15 proposals for stimulus funding that were submitted to PennDot from all parts of the state. PennDot, in turn, will submit the applications to Washington under a program aimed at financing major transportation infrastructure improvements.
Biehler said he did not know how Pennsylvania would fare in competing with other states for funds.
If approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the I-95 project would widen the congested thruway from six lanes to eight lanes between Levick Street and Bleigh Avenue. The work would include upgrading seven ramps and seven bridges.
The work is estimated to cost $195 million, with $95 million of that proposed to come from stimulus money. The proposal would extend work that began in May to reconstruct the I-95 interchange at Cottman Avenue. PennDot's long-range plan is to redo most of I-95 in the state.
The two rail-project proposals to be submitted to Washington include one along CSX tracks in southwestern Pennsylvania, and one along Norfolk Southern tracks in the eastern half of the state.
The CSX proposal, which PennDot ranks No. 1 on its statewide priority list, would elevate the many bridges over the tracks to permit containers to be stacked two-high on flat cars.
The route proposed to be upgraded is the old Baltimore & Ohio Railroad corridor, crossing several states. The Pennsylvania portion starts just south of Bedford and runs through Pittsburgh, on into Ohio.
Similar work was done in the 1990s to permit double-stacking of shipments along the old Pennsylvania Railroad tracks.
Biehler said several states were involved in the application for stimulus funds, with Ohio taking the lead. The multistate project will cost $774 million, with $194 million proposed to come from stimulus money. Pennsylvania, on its own, would contribute $35 million.
The Norfolk Southern proposal, to cost an estimated $609 million for work across several states, would involve tracks that roughly run parallel to Interstate 81 from the Maryland border to the Harrisburg area. The route then runs roughly parallel to Interstate 78 from Harrisburg to New Jersey.
The work would include adding tracks, improving track, and upgrading intermodal terminals. The railroad estimates that, by increasing the amount of shipping that the line can handle, it would eliminate the need every year for 700,000 long-haul truck shipments.
The application will call for $300 million in stimulus funding. Pennsylvania would put in $45 million.
The Stimulus Oversight Commission, meeting for the first time since July, reported that Pennsylvania state government so far has spent a little less than $3 billion of the $9.5 billion it expects to receive from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
More than one-third of the funds - $1 billion - has gone to buttress the Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people. An additional $624 million has gone to help pay unemployment benefits for laid-off Pennsylvania workers, and $535 million has gone for repair of highways and bridges. The state has not reported any estimate for the total number of jobs created by the program.
CSX Breaks Ground on Ohio Terminal, Submits TIGER Grant Application for Proposed National Gateway Intermodal PPP
Progressive Railroading
Sep. 10, 2009
The National Gateway reached a significant milestone last month. On Aug. 14, Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, CSX Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward, and other dignitaries broke ground on an intermodal terminal near North Baltimore, Ohio — the first of three new facilities that will be located along the National Gateway, a double-stack corridor CSX plans to build through six states and the District of Columbia.
CSX affiliate Evansville Western Railway Inc. will construct and operate the 185-acre Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal, which is projected to handle 630,000 containers and trailers annually. To be completed in 2011, the terminal will include 24,000 feet of working track and 100,000 feet of block-swapping track.
Meanwhile, the National Gateway — which is being developed through a public-private partnership (PPP) between CSX, the six states and federal government — will reach another milestone this month. CSX plans to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) by Sept. 15 seeking a $258 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant. Funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the TIGER program provides $1.5 billion in discretionary grants for surface transportation programs.
Going after feds' share
The TIGER grant would cover the federal government's share of the $842 million National Gateway PPP, says CSX Vice President of Strategic Infrastructure Initiatives Louis Renjel, who spearheads the project. CSX has committed $393 million for the National Gateway, and Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia would provide a total of $192 million, he says.
"Three states — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia — have committed a total of $82 million so far," he says.
Proposed as an intermodal route linking Midwest markets and mid-Atlantic ports and metropolitan areas, the National Gateway calls for upgrading track, bridges and tunnels — including D.C.'s Virginia Avenue Tunnel — to provide double-stack clearances, and building additional terminals in Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, although sites haven't been selected for those facilities.
The route also would be supported by an existing CSX terminal in Chambersburg, Pa.
The National Gateway would run along three existing corridors: the I-70/I-76 Corridor between Washington, D.C., and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh; the I-95 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore via D.C.; and the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, N.C. CSX predominantly would fund terminal construction and government monies would cover double-stack clearance work. The Class I hopes to begin clearance work in the fall, primarily in Ohio and Pennsylvania, says Renjel.
"We'll have a short window until winter comes," he says.
All clearance work might be completed in 2012, pending the availability of government funding.
Another option out there
The USDOT expects to announce TIGER grant recipients in early 2010. If CSX's application is turned down, the railroad would work with its state partners to lobby for Gateway funding in the surface transportation reauthorization legislation, says Renjel.
The PPP participants are counting on the National Gateway's public benefits — which are projected to total $5 billion — to sway the USDOT's decision on the TIGER grant. During a 30-year period, the initiative is projected to lower CO2 emissions by more than 12 million tons, save businesses more than $3.5 billion in shipping costs, reduce fuel consumption by nearly 1 billion gallons and reduce highway congestion. In addition, the Gateway will create 50,000 jobs, says Renjel.
"We can show that the Gateway is good for the nation," he says.
For now, CSX will continue to work with the six states to secure all of their funding while awaiting word on the TIGER grant application.
"We have the support of all the governors in the affected states," says Renjel.
FOX Toledo News / WUPW report on the National Gateway
$175 million rail project gets under way in Wood County: Terminal boosts area jobs outlook
The Toledo Blade
David Patch
August 15, 2009
Michael Shelton estimates that half his family lost their jobs in recent months as auto-industry suppliers in the region have closed factories or reduced production.
So when construction began three months ago at what is to become CSX Corp.'s Northwest Ohio Trans-Shipment Terminal along the railroad tracks west of town, six of the North Baltimore High School sophomore's relatives were ready to work.
"Most of them had just gotten laid off, and it helps the family a lot" that the construction work was there, Michael said yesterday after he and about 30 other members of the high school band performed during a ceremonial groundbreaking for the $175 million rail terminal that will stretch for several miles along the CSX Transportation main line across southern Wood County.
With school not yet in session, Michael, who plays the mellophone -- a marching-band version of the French horn -- and his schoolmates all were there on volunteered time, and they were joined in a marginally air-conditioned tent on a warm, sticky northwest Ohio afternoon to hear Gov. Ted Strickland and other dignitaries laud the CSX project, scheduled for completion in early 2011.
"Ohio is a great location to do business in, and this project will only further Ohio as the ideal place for distributing goods," the governor said, citing North Baltimore's location within "easy travel distance of a great portion of the American population."
"It really is going to make northwest Ohio a major national logistics center," said Michael Ward, CSX's chief executive officer, who described the terminal as a major component of a broader, $840 million "National Gateway" plan designed to develop rail-borne container shipping between mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest.
Construction will employ about 400 people, Mr. Ward said, and along with about 200 permanent jobs at the terminal, the development of warehouses and other distribution-related businesses nearby is expected to generate as many as 2,600 additional jobs.
"As freight grows, and highways can't handle it all, more and more trucking companies want to partner with us at facilities like this," the CSX chief said, adding that the North Baltimore center will be the most advanced and "environmentally friendly" facility of its kind in the world.
At the terminal, CSX will bring in trains loaded with freight containers that will be broken down, sorted by destination, and then reloaded onto other trains for delivery.
Some containers will be trucked for part of their journey, although the railroad's preliminary estimate is that only about 70 such shipments will arrive or depart from the terminal on a typical day to start. If CSX's jobs forecast is accurate, however, major shippers will build warehouses nearby so that they, too, can store, sort, or even do light assembly work on their products.
U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (R., Bowling Green) said promoting fuel-efficient rail transportation of freight will help cut U.S. dependence on petroleum, of which 65 percent of its supply is imported.
"If we can reduce that, that helps America," Mr. Latta said. "This project right here is going to be helping America move forward."
Young Shelton said he expects his relatives now working on the terminal's construction will seek permanent jobs there once the facility opens.
"We're just hoping it brings jobs, a lot of extra jobs. The local community has been hit hard by the auto industry's problems," said William Cameron, a North Baltimore village councilman, noting that one plant in the village itself closed altogether and another substantially cut production.
While there was initial opposition to the terminal project -- manifest in "No CSX Intermodal Railyard" signs that sprouted across the village and around the rural countryside nearby after word got out about the railroad's plan -- Mr. Cameron said he believes most of that has diminished.
And Kyle Clark, the North Baltimore schools superintendent, said the terminal project and forecasts for related development are "nothing but positive for the school district.
"Our community is going to grow. Nothing but positive things can happen from this," Mr. Clark said.
The terminal actually is being developed by Evansville Western, a CSX subsidiary that bought about 500 acres in an area roughly bounded by the CSX tracks, Liberty Hi Road, State Rt. 18, and a property line parallel to and east of Range Line Road to build the project.
Earth-moving that began in May has resulted in a large mound along Route 18 to screen the site from neighboring homesteads, while track grading and construction also has begun, particularly at the eastern end.
Liberty Hi is closed while tracks are added to its railroad crossing just north of Route 18, and Chris Durden, CSX's director of terminal support, said discussions are under way with the Ohio Department of Transportation and Wood County about building a bridge to carry Liberty Hi over the tracks -- a project expected to cost between $5 million and $6 million.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, meanwhile, announced an agreement with CSX earlier this week to replace warning lights and gates at six other nearby railroad crossings, including four in North Baltimore and two in and near Hoytville, to support the terminal project.
The Strickland administration also has agreed to spend $20 million, requested by CSX, to raise or replace bridges over one of its lines east of Greenwich, Ohio, to allow trains carrying freight containers stacked two-high to run on those tracks, as part of the National Gateway Project.
New intermodal yard promises thousands of jobs
Toledo on the Move
Lou Hebert
August 14, 2009
A major construction project in Southern Wood Country is on track and ready to get underway. Ground-breaking ceremonies were held Friday for the construction of the new CSX Intermodal rail facility that promises hundreds of new jobs.
A few miles west of North Baltimore, a host of dignitaries and townspeople gathered for the kick off the brand new state of the art intermodal yard that is to take shape there in abut two years. It's a yard that CSX contends will mean big things and lots of jobs for the future, including 400 immediate construction jobs.
Governor Ted Strickland said that rail transportation overall is poised to be a major part of the future economy for the state of Ohio and the region. Construction is expected to begin soon and should be completed by 2011, transforming an open field in Wood County into one the most vital rail yards in the country where large containers hauled by rail cars will be transferred to trucks for regional distribution.
Residents of nearby North Baltimore, hard hit by the recession and unemployment, are ready to see some recovery, so that when the train horns blast their way through town in the future, as one Wood County official says, it will be the sound of money. This $235 million dollar rail yard is said to be the most state-of-the-art transfer yard in the country and will be the cornerstone of a vast new network of rail transportation to be called the "National Gateway."
BROWN APPLAUDS NORTH BALTIMORE RAIL TERMINAL GROUNDBREAKING, PART OF NATIONAL GATEWAY PROJECT
CSX and Federal Plan Will Link Ohio to Mid-Atlantic Ports
OFFICE OF U.S. SENATOR SHERROD BROWN
August 14, 2009
COLUMBUS OHIO— In response to today's groundbreaking of a rail terminal in North Baltimore, Ohio—part of the National Gateway Project—U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown issued the following statement:
"Today is about creating jobs, economic development, and investing in our communities," Brown said. "Companies like CSX know that choosing Ohio is good for business, and the impact of the National Gateway Project is good for the region. Our strong network of rails, roads, rivers, and airports have for years been an asset to companies looking to reach more than 150 million people who live within a day's drive of the state. This project demonstrates why our state is a leader in the transportation and logistics sectors."
According to CSX, the National Gateway is a plan to create a more efficient rail route linking Mid-Atlantic ports with Midwestern markets, which will improve the flow of rail traffic between these regions by increasing the use of double-stack trains. This public-private partnership - expected to cost $700 million -- will upgrade tracks, equipment and facilities, and provide clearance allowing double-stack intermodal trains – intermodal cargo can be efficiently transported by ship, train or truck in standard-sized shipping containers.
In Ohio, the project calls for the building of a new rail terminal in North Baltimore and expansion of an intermodal facility in Columbus.
Strickland attends groundbreaking at intermodal facility
WTOL (Toledo, OH)
By Nick Dutton
August 14, 2009
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland was in Wood County Friday, August 14 to mark the groundbreaking of the Northwest Ohio Intermodal Facility.
The terminal will be part of CSX Railroad's proposed national gateway that would shuttle double stack trains between the Midwest and mid-Atlantic ports.
The project will create about 100 new jobs in North Baltimore immediately, but could create as many as 2600 in the long run.
Cummings: Congress can, and must, act now on transportation funding bill
Greater Baltimore Committee
June 26, 2009
Despite President Obama's call for an 18-month extension of current federal transportation funding programs that are due to expire this fall, Maryland Congressman Elijah E. Cummings, who sits on a key House transportation committee, says he is convinced that Congress can enact revamped transportation legislation this year.
"For so long, we have put off our infrastructure needs," Cummings told participants at the June 25 Greater Baltimore Committee 2009 Regional Transportation Summit. "We are, frankly, impeding our own mobility and needlessly restraining our economic growth."
Regardless of how new transportation funding processes are changed, Cummings said he will continue to strongly support funding for Baltimore's Red Line.
Cummings will also support other Baltimore-region priorities including the planning and construction of the Green Line metro extension, upgrading rail freight resources to achieve double-tracking capacity from mid-Atlantic ports to the Midwest, and modernizing 100-year-old Baltimore tunnels that are now a bottleneck for Amtrak's east coast service, he said.
The GBC considers strengthening transportation funding to be a top economic development priority for both Maryland and the nation, said GBC President and CEO Donald C. Fry.
"The United States is at a pivot point," Fry told more that 120 business executives and transportation advocates who attended the summit. "Is transportation getting lost in so many other priorities?"
Cummings outlined the draft legislation that is now before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that would create a new $500 billion national transportation funding program. Key elements include:
- Allocating, over six years, $337 billion to highways, $87 billion to mass transit, $50 billion to high-speed rail, and $13 billion for safety initiatives;
- Creating a "Critical Asset Investment Program" to bring bridge and highway system maintenance up to standards;
- Creating an "Office of Expedited Project Delivery," that would shorten the time it takes for a transportation project to go through the federal funding process;
- Provisions for dedicated funding to help the large metropolitan regions address congestion. Among other things, the program would require regions to develop specific plans to address congestion;
- Establishing a National Infrastructure Bank to provide grants, loans, guarantees, lines of credit, and other financial tools to help metropolitan regions implement their plans;
- Creating an "Office of Intermodalism" charged with developing and implementing a national transportation strategic plan.
John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and Thomas Murphy, former Pittsburgh mayor and now a resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute, also spoke at the GBC Transportation Summit. Both called for substantially strengthening both the nation's transportation funding and strategy.
"At some point, we're going to have to grow up and raise taxes" to address infrastructure issues, said Horsley. "Somewhere out there soon, Congress is going to have to face the fact that you can't borrow yourself out of a recession."
"We haven't made significant investment in our infrastructure in a lot of years," Murphy said, pointing out that in the 1950s President Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted on a gas tax to pay for the interstate highways system. "That was leadership. Since that time we've never really had a transportation infrastructure strategy."
Op-ed - National Gateway Initiative
The Review Newspapers of Newton Falls, OH
Charles L. (Chuck) Bills
June 18, 2009
President Obama recently announced a $787 billion economic relief package that seeks to stimulate the economy through investment in many areas of the American economy, perhaps most importantly our nation's transportation infrastructure. Ohio has a perfect opportunity to put some of that money to work on a project with local and global benefits - the National Gateway.
As America looks to rebuild its economy and infrastructure through public investment, that investment can be enhanced via public-private partnerships.
The National Gateway (www.nationalgateway.org) is a public-private partnership which will create a state-of-the-art rail corridor linking the Mid-Atlantic's international ports and population centers with the Midwest's manufacturing and distribution centers through use of double-stack trains. Double-stack trains will add valuable capacity to an essential transportation corridor, and the National Gateway will provide the capacity, facilities and equipment to attract and serve businesses around the state and the globe.
Ohio will realize over $745 million in public benefits through the National Gateway from new jobs, increased tax collection and improved railway reliability. By diverting freight from our crowded highways, the National Gateway will lead to reduced emissions and highway maintenance costs as well as improved road safety. The National Gateway will bring thousands of construction jobs to our state as the National Gateway route is cleared and intermodal terminals are completed.
The National Gateway will help businesses in Ohio and throughout the region be more competitive in the global economy. The National Gateway will expand transportation options, reduce shipping costs and improve the flow of goods between the Midwest and the East Coast. By expanding rail access and providing new shipping options, the National Gateway is expected to reduce overall freight shipping costs on goods entering and leaving our state by $100 million.
Private organizations have expressed strong support for this initiative, committing $350 million out of the overall $700 million dollars needed to complete the National Gateway. This coalition of supporters is seeking funding from the state and federal government to secure the necessary funding to move forward.
These are exciting times, as our nation is finally focusing on the importance of investing in our nation's infrastructure. Around the country, we must encourage projects that will revitalize our nation's economy through transportation infrastructure improvements. In Ohio, we must move quickly to support infrastructure investment to realize the full benefits possible through revitalized infrastructure.
Public-private partnerships such as the National Gateway will yield vast benefits to the economy, the environment and the taxpayer. Together, must encourage our elected officials to support deserving projects such as the National Gateway that will stimulate our economy and move the nation forward.
CSX wagers on a public-private partnership to place the double-stack National Gateway in the intermodal win column
Progressive Railroading
Jeff Stagl, managing editor
January 12, 2009
The wind picked up speed as it blew across Rice Yard on a late November afternoon. The same can't be said about the level of activity at the Waycross, Ga., hump yard.
Capable of humping 3,000 rail cars per day, the CSX Corp. facility was on pace to hump about 2,700. Since early October, traffic has been tracking about 5 percent below last year's levels, said Terminal Superintendent Brian Barr as he scanned dozens of empty receiving and departure tracks from the yard's tower.
Nonetheless, the trains that are flowing into and out of the facility of late are doing so more fluidly. Several months ago, CSX built a second track into Rice Yard and relocated lines away from the heart of Waycross' city center. The infrastructure improvements enable the yard to process traffic in a shorter amount of time, said Barr. An outbound train no longer has to wait until an inbound train clears a single track and trains moving through the city don't have to slow down to pass grade crossings.
Eighty miles southeast of Waycross, senior executives stationed at CSX's Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters are pursuing an initiative that will provide the railroad a much larger traffic boost from infrastructure that'll be upgraded on a much grander scale. In May 2008, the Class I unveiled the National Gateway, a double-stack train route that would run through Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, and link three mid-Atlantic ports with Midwestern markets.
Proposed as a public-private partnership (PPP), the gateway calls for upgrading track, bridges and tunnels, and expanding and constructing several intermodal terminals during the next seven years — to the tune of $724 million, half of which would be funded by CSX.
Although the gateway doesn't include Rice Yard, the Waycross facility would handle some of the traffic generated by the project — provided the Class I can attract the public financing and political support necessary to carry out the PPP. It's not a small task given the number of constituents involved: three ports, six states, the District of Columbia and, CSXers hope, the federal government. Senior execs know it won't be an easy one, either, since half the project's cost needs to be split between the states and feds. Each are being asked to provide $181 million.
So far, the call for public funding has partially been answered.
"We've been at this for about nine months, and the initial support from the states has been good," says CSX Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward, adding that it's difficult to gauge the level of federal support until the new Administration takes office. "We're trying to ensure the gateway is high enough on their priority lists."
How? By stressing that the National Gateway will provide $8 in public benefits for every public dollar invested in the project, such as reductions in highway congestion, air pollution and fuel usage, and the creation of hundreds of new jobs.
CSX also is emphasizing how the route would serve much of the nation as a major rail artery tapped into what's expected to be a heavier flow of imported containers at ports in Baltimore, Wilmington, N.C., and Hampton Roads, Va. With West Coast ports becoming increasingly congested, populations growing in major consumer markets and the Panama Canal building a third set of locks projected to open in 2015 — clearing the way for more ships to travel from Asia to the East Coast — the three ports are prepping for a lot more container activity.
"We'll be in a position to bring goods arriving at the East Coast ports into the nation's heartland, says Ward. "We'll also get two-way traffic flows by bringing grain and manufactured goods to the ports, then loading trains with import containers for the return trip."
In addition, the gateway will position CSX to better compete with other carriers for the growing international intermodal traffic, says Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tony Ingram.
"We can take advantage of the good deepwater ports," he says.
Clearing the Way
But first, CSX needs to establish double-stack clearances along every track, in every tunnel and on every bridge located on three existing corridors: the I-70/I-76 Corridor between D.C. and northwest Ohio (via Pittsburgh); the I-95 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore (via D.C.); and the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, N.C.
"We've got good route structure, but in some areas, we don't have the clearances," says Ingram.
Pending the availability of government funding, CSX plans to complete 61 clearance projects in five of the states and D.C. by 2015 (see page 18). No clearance work is required in North Carolina.
Among the proposed projects: replacing the roof and building a double track in D.C.'s Virginia Avenue Tunnel. Projected to cost more than $120 million, the project will provide a 21-foot clearance in the tunnel.
The upgrades will improve operations both for intermodal trains and passenger trains run by Amtrak, Maryland Transit Administration's MARC service and Virginia Railway Express, says Lisa Mancini, who previously headed the National Gateway as vice president of strategic infrastructure initiatives until CSX appointed her senior VP-law and public affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary in late November. Louis Renjel succeeded Mancini and now oversees the project.
CSX long has had double-stack clearances from the mid-Atlantic ports to other regions, such as New England.
"Now, we need a clear route to the Midwest," says Mancini.
A Constructive Approach
The Class I also needs to build more terminals to expand intermodal capacity. CSX opened one in Chambersburg, Pa., in September 2007, and held a ceremony there on Dec. 5 to commemorate the terminal as an official part of the gateway. The railroad plans to construct three more terminals in Pittsburgh, and North Baltimore and Columbus, Ohio. The four facilities are considered cornerstone terminals for the gateway because of their key locations, senior execs say.
Construction on the North Baltimore facility is slated to begin in early 2009, initial site selection is under way for the Pittsburgh terminal and the Columbus facility still is in planning stage, according to CSX spokesperson Lauren Rueger.
The Columbus terminal will help Ohio further its plan to become the nation's logistics center, says Mancini. Large rail-served inland distribution centers are expected to be built in the area to capitalize on the increased volume and speed of containers flowing into major hubs.
"There's big interest in distribution centers locating around the gateway," she says.
CSX also is considering plans to build or expand other intermodal facilities along gateway routes, such as a new terminal to serve the Hampton Roads area, a relocated facility in Baltimore, and an expanded and upgraded terminal in Charlotte.
The projects would require various approvals from the municipalities.
However, there's one thing that's more daunting to CSXers than the scope of the gateway-related projects, and lobbying efforts necessary to fund and complete them: the price tag. The clearance work alone will cost about $347 million.
There's no chance the Class I could foot the entire $724 million bill and complete the gateway by 2015, says Mancini.
"Without the public-private partnership, we could do it ourselves, but over a much longer time period," she says.
CSX's share of gateway funding mostly will cover the terminal projects.
"We want to control the process of building the terminals and avoid a prolonged funding process," says Mancini. "The states and feds mostly would fund the clearance work."
So far, Pennsylvania has been the gateway's biggest supporter and the first to pony up funds.
Last month, the state agreed to provide $35 million during the next three years to help fund clearance and bridge work. Pennsylvania previously provided $48 million for the Chambersburg terminal.
"How quickly we can move goods into and out of the country is key to our economic future," said Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell at the ceremony held in Chambersburg last month.
Vocal Supporter
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland also has voiced support for the National Gateway. The initiative will help the state solidify its position as a transportation gateway for the nation, he said in May when CSX unveiled the project.
"This is a major competitive advantage that can greatly benefit the citizens of Ohio, and the state is committed to doing its part to help build this sort of needed infrastructure," said Strickland. "In doing so, we'll also be setting an example for other states around the nation."
In addition, Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation has included the gateway in their long-range transportation plan, and CSX continues to solicit backing in Maryland, North Carolina and West Virginia, says Mancini.
Last year, CSX set up a Web site (www.nationalgateway.org) that describes the project and its public benefits to help generate support for the initiative.
Empirical Evidence
It also helps to have something in black and white that shows state officials exactly what the gateway has to offer. Last year, CSX commissioned Cambridge Systematics Inc. to conduct a study on the project's public benefits — that same firm that in late 2007 released an Association of American Railroads-commissioned study that showed U.S. freight railroads need to spend $135 billion the next 30 years to address capacity constraints.
Cambridge determined that during the gateway's first 10 years of operation, state highway maintenance costs would decrease because more than 2 million trucks would be diverted from freeways, CO2 emissions would decline by more than 4 million tons, gasoline consumption would drop by about 500 million gallons and shipping costs would fall more than $2 billion.
In addition, shifting freight from highways to rail would save the states up to $250 million in safety-related costs, the study found.
The benefits are worth a total of $3.2 billion over the 10 years, says Mancini. Virginia's public benefits alone would exceed $550 million.
"Cambridge will do a new study soon that will give a breakdown of new jobs to be created in each state," she says. "But that $3.2 billion figure likely won't change."
Dawn of New Era in D.C.
The change that's occurring in D.C. could bode well for CSX's chances of landing federal funds for the gateway. The new Administration and Congress might include monies in the surface transportation reauthorization legislation, says Ward.
"The new Administration also has talked about the need for an economic stimulus package and transportation could be part of it," he says. "This seems to be a pro-rail and pro-infrastructure Administration."
Although transportation is a bi-partisan issue, it helps that President-elect Barack Obama has roots in Chicago and understands transportation's role from the perspective of one of the world's largest cities, says Ward.
"Obama comes from the largest rail hub in the world," he says.
While CSX tries to draw attention to the National Gateway at the federal and state levels, at least the Class I won't be competing with Norfolk Southern Corp., which is attempting to solicit similar support for its Crescent Corridor intermodal route between New Jersey and Louisiana. The two PPP projects are different, says Ward.
"Our corridor isn't going through coal fields," he says. "The gateway involves multiple ports and different routing."
CSX can make a strong case for the gateway by stressing rail's advantages: a train can move one ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of fuel and carry the same amount of cargo as about 280 trucks, says Ward. If enough federal and state policymakers recognize the value of those advantages, the Class I will meet its goal of completing the gateway in time for the opening of the expanded Panama Canal — and a heavier flow of East Coast-bound container ships — in 2015.
"More and more, the nation is becoming aware of the tremendous safety, economic and environmental benefits that railroads create," says Ward. "The National Gateway leverages those benefits to the fullest."
Global intermodal logistics: CSX champions public-private infrastructural investment
Logistics Management
Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor
November 25, 2008
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—Shippers sourcing goods from U.S. east coast ports are being asked to support new efforts to attract public and private investment to improve rail infrastructure. And CSX Transportation is taking an active role on this front beginning next year, when it will break ground on an intermodal facility at North Baltimore in northwest Ohio. This facility will streamline operations in Chicago. The company opened a new intermodal terminal at Chambersburg, Pa., in 2007 and continues work to expand facilities in major markets such as Charlotte, North Carolina.
"Our initiative is designed to help shippers who are increasingly reliant on the Port of Virginia," said Lisa Mancini, vice president, strategic infrastructure initiatives for CSX Transportation. "It is one of several regional gateways we need to support with more funds." Speaking at a press conference staged at the National Industrial Transportation League's (NITL) annual conference last week, Mancini told LM that the Port of Baltimore would also benefit from an infusion of future investment.
"And we are not forgetting shippers who source from the U.S. west coast either," she said. "A more developed rail network will aid them in bringing goods to a Midwest market much faster." The new intermodal facility in northwest Ohio is a key element of the National Gateway, a public-private partnership seeking to create a more efficient rail route between mid-Atlantic ports and the midwest through use of double-stack trains. By hauling more freight on fewer trains, the National Gateway is designed to reduce congestion on the nation's highways and improve rail fluidity Mancini echoed the sentiments of CSX Intermodal president, Jim Hertwig, who earlier urged more cooperation between public and private sectors to quickly address emerging trends in global trade. "Intermodal transportation combines the efficiency of rail with the flexibility of trucks," said Hertwig. "As our nation faces combined pressures from an increasingly globalized economy and deteriorating transportation infrastructure, it is critical that we work together to bolster this pillar of our national economy."
By converting over two billion highway miles to rail, the National Gateway will reduce transportation emissions by an estimated four million tons, save over $2 billion in shipping costs and reduce fuel consumption by nearly 500 million gallons.
Both Hertwig and Mancini participated in expert panels at IANA's (Intermodal Association of North America) Intermodal Expo held concurrently with NITL event.
North Baltimore CSX Rail Yard Construction Beginning in January
WFIN
November 20, 2008
Construction of the CSX rail yard in North Baltimore is scheduled to begin in January.
The Wood County Commissioners have approved a joint Economic Development District contract between the village and Henry Township. The move allows the district to take 1-percent of the labor tax for construction. Funds collected may also go to infrastructure improvements at the site. If construction remains on schedule, the facility should be up and running by the end of 2010, creating 50 to 75 jobs.
Public-Private Sector Cooperation Needed to Meet Nation's Infrastructure Needs, CSX Execs Say
Progressive Railroading
November 19, 2008
Global trade trends underscore the critical need for expanded transportation and distribution infrastructure in the United States, and Class I railroads plan to do their part, as two CSX Corp. execs noted during the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) Intermodal Expo, held Nov. 16-18 at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"Intermodal transportation combines the efficiency of rail with the flexibility of trucks," said CSX Intermodal President, Jim Hertwig, during one IANA panel. "As our nation faces combined pressures from an increasingly globalized economy and deteriorating transportation infrastructure, it is critical that we work together to bolster this pillar of our national economy."
To streamline operations in Chicago and improve overall customer service, CSX next year will begin construction of an intermodal facility in North Baltimore, which is in northwest Ohio. Last year, CSX opened an intermodal terminal in Chambersburg, Pa., and continues work to expand facilities in major markets such as Charlotte, N.C.
The new northwest Ohio intermodal facility is a key element of the National Gateway, a public-private partnership seeking to create a more efficient rail route between Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest through use of double-stack trains. By hauling more freight on fewer trains, the National Gateway would reduce congestion on the nation's crowded highways and improve rail fluidity.
"Customers, policymakers and the public are realizing the environmental and economic benefits of freight rail," added Lisa Mancini, CSX Transportation vice president, strategic infrastructure initiatives, during her IANA session. "CSX invests heavily in our network and is actively exploring public-private partnerships, such as the National Gateway, that will deliver impressive public benefits in years to come."
By converting more than 2 billion highway miles to rail, the National Gateway would reduce transportation emissions by an estimated 4 million tons, save more than $2 billion in shipping costs and reduce fuel consumption by nearly 500 million gallons, CSX officials believe.
Priority on Infrastructure
The New York Times (Letters)
By Norman Mineta
November 7, 2008
To the Editor:
David Brooks hit the nail on the head in "A National Mobility Project" (column, Oct. 31) when he said developing a long-term strategy to address our nation's infrastructure should be a top priority for our next president.
Our economy cannot prosper if our transportation infrastructure lacks sufficient capacity. As the American population grows, so will the demand for transportation services; in fact, the Department of Transportation has projected that demand will rise 92 percent by 2035.
Without a strong, healthy transportation system in place to meet this demand, American businesses won't be able to import and export goods efficiently, and our ability to compete in a global economy will be hindered.
It's imperative that the next president make addressing our nation's infrastructure needs an urgent priority when he arrives in Washington. In addition to repairing our nation's aging highways and bridges, a smart plan should not overlook the importance of expanding capacity on the freight rail network to ensure productivity growth and the efficient and economical movement of freight.
Norman Mineta
Washington, Nov. 3, 2008
The writer is a former secretary of transportation in the Bush administration.
Intermodal Bolsters Railroad Profits
FleetOwner
By Sean Kilcarr, senior editor
October 29, 2008
Continued growth in demand for intermodal services boosted revenues and profits for the major railroads in the third quarter this year – demand driven in large measure by shippers seeking to cut transportation costs.
"In today's environment, manufacturers and distributors are highly focused on gaining greater efficiency in their supply chains and railroads offer them the best transportation alternative," said Michael Ward, chairman, president and CEO of Jacksonville, FL-based CSX Corp.
CSX reported third quarter earnings of $382 million – a 40% increase from the same period in 2007 – on an 18% gain in revenue to $3 billion. Ward noted that nine of the CSX's 10 market segments producing revenue gains despite ongoing softness in the housing and automotive sectors of the economy – led by shipments of export coal, grain, ethanol and metals, as well as strong yields and fuel recovery in all markets.
Norfolk, VA-based Norfolk Southern said that, despite flat volumes, intermodal revenues were up 16% to $560 million for the third quarter compared with the same period of 2007. The railroad reported net income increased to $520 million in the third quarter – up from $386 million in the same period last year – as operating revenues increased 23% to $2.9 billion compared to the third quarter in 2007.
Norfolk Southern noted it hit those numbers despite continued weakness in the automotive and housing-related industries, contributing to a 1% reduction overall traffic volumes compared to this time last year – though those declines were mostly offset by strength in coal shipments.
Omaha, NE-based Union Pacific also did well, achieving record quarterly financial results despite a challenging economic environment and record-high diesel fuel prices, said Jim Young, UP's chairman and CEO. "Solid pricing, increasing fuel cost recoveries and strong operating productivity all made positive impacts on our third quarter earnings," he said.
Young noted freight revenue grew 16% to a best-ever $4.6 billion in the third quarter this year as five out of the UP's six business groups – agricultural, chemicals, energy, industrial products, and intermodal – posted all-time record revenues and boosting average revenue per car to a record $1,931. Though business volumes in the third quarter, as measured by carloads, were 5%t lower than the same period in 2007 due to the slower economy and disruptions from hurricanes, growth in higher density, long haul shipments boosted UP's, revenue ton-miles by 1% to 145.8 billion.
Overall, UP's net income soared to $703 million in the third quarter this year, compared to $532 million in the same period of 2007.
Even Canadian railroad giant CN benefited from intermodal growth, as its third-quarter net income increased to C$552 million (US$433.4 million) from C$485 million (US$380.4 million) in the same period last year – based on a 12% jump in third-quarter revenues to over C$2.25 billion (US$1.76 billion) Those numbers resulted from big revenue growth in five of CN's seven commodity groups, led by coal (41%), metals and minerals (29%), intermodal (24%), petroleum and chemicals (9%), and automotive (3%).
"Looking forward, the uncertain economic landscape in North America and around the world will pose challenges to CN and its customers," said E. Hunter Harrison, Montreal-based CN's president and CEO. "But we believe CN is well positioned to weather the headwinds – we have a unique business model anchored on precision railroading, and a strong freight franchise with growth prospects in intermodal, bulk commodities and energy-related developments in Western Canada."
North Baltimore to Fund Rail Site Improvements
The Toledo Blade (OH)
October 16, 2008
Village Council and Henry Township trustees have approved a plan to help pay for nearby improvements for the $80 million rail terminal CSX Transportation intends to build just west of North Baltimore.
The village and township agreed Tuesday night to create the Henry Township-Village of North Baltimore Joint Economic Development District, which will allow it to collect a 1 percent income tax from workers employed at the 500-acre CSX site during the construction of the intermodal hub.
The funds generated will be used to pay for roads, signage, and related projects. Construction is expected to begin early next year and take more than a year.
Ohio Lt. Gov Lee Fisher Endorses the National Gateway
Intermodal rail: the long-term solution
The Journal of Commerce
By W. Gordon Fink
September 1, 2008
Container dwell time is a growing challenge to the efficient operation of the marine terminal. It is a major deterrent to the ability to improve supply-chain velocity. Studies have found that the average container dwell time ranges from five to eight days. Forecast increases in vessel size will add to the long-term impact of failure to improve container dwell time.
Most U.S. ports are in heavily populated urban areas. Available land adjacent to deep water is scarce. Terminal expansion is expensive and time-consuming. Port area residents feel that they carry unfair environmental burdens, especially increased road congestion and reduced air quality. They push back when ports want to expand operations in their "back yard."
Truck appointment systems at terminals, extended gate hours, chassis pools and the West Coast's PierPass penalty fees are short-term improvements. Acute shortages of drayage drivers are predicted as a result of new federal security regulations that include immigration, criminal and terrorism background checks for credentials. Increased fuel costs add to these challenges, seriously impacting the use of truck for both short- and long-haul movement of marine containers.
The long-term solution is rapid rail transfer of freight containers to and from remote inland intermodal rail transfer yards. Space-consuming reconsolidation and distribution activities can be performed at lower-cost locations close to newly established distribution centers and cross-docking facilities. This can create business areas that will be new sources of employment and tax revenue. The same marine terminal advantages accrue to the staging of loaded or empty export containers at the off-terminal location.
The challenge is how to manage and fund these new "regional systems." The current Department of Transportation management is strongly on the side of selling existing highways and using tolls to repay long-term investment. There has been strong local objection to this principle where it has been applied to our current highway infrastructure. The proposed systems using rail transfer and remote terminals have the advantage of being "new." Additionally, ports are generally viewed as good, long-term investments, with fairly steady volumes and existing waterside infrastructure.
No one solution will fit all regions, but the following attributes should be a catalyst either to using an existing organization such as Southern California's Alameda Corridor, or creating a new one that will bring local partners together and obtain the required innovative financing. The proposed solution is not only "new" but should quickly gain public support by reducing congestion and environmental pollution while being an efficient means of transportation for marine freight. Public-private partnerships are in vogue and allow joint relationships to be established with the local port authorities, state governments and the private sector. Local public funding will be hard if not impossible to obtain in the current financial environment - state bonding action will take time and lots of debate.
The proposed projects should be eligible for federal credit through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. TIFIA approval should not take as long since the proposed systems are innovative, use state-of-the-art technologies, and meet local, state and national goals. The projects certainly meet the goal of being important for improving the efficiency of port operations, contributing to the local economy, improving the environment and meeting the needs of U.S. consumers.
We do not have a national freight transportation plan. Recent commissions and mode-advocacy groups have supported the need for such a plan, but the DOT has taken the position that no new federal funds are available for infrastructure investment. This means that regional solutions are going to be the only way to create urgently needed improvements in port efficiency and the transportation of marine freight.
Hopefully, the current DOT position will spawn new regional organizations that will take the initiative to: provide operational oversight and establish creative funding sources; use rail to rapidly move containers from the marine terminals to remote intermodal railyards; and adopt rail as the most efficient and environmentally responsive way to move marine freight to its final inland destination.
It is a win-win solution - increasing the efficiency of the nation's marine terminals and ports, reducing local area congestion and environmental pollution, and developing a more efficient means to transport marine freight to its destination.
Meeting Challenges That Face the Port
The Baltimore Sun (Letters)
By, Rochelle "Rikki" Spector
August 20, 2008
In response to The Sun's editorial "Double port trouble" (Aug. 7), I would note that we need to make all investments possible for the port of Baltimore's future. The port is critical to the Mid-Atlantic region and tremendously important to the region's economy.
Railroads are a crucial mode of transportation for the port, especially today, as highway congestion in the region worsens. I support increasing freight railroad capacity at the port.
According to The Sun's editorial, the port's capacity to double-stack freight containers on rail cars is limited because of aging tunnel infrastructure. But there is hope.
There is legislation before Congress, the Freight Railroad Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act, that could help spur infrastructure expansion by providing tax credits for projects that increase capacity.
Perhaps this bill could help us meet some of the port's challenges.
Rochelle "Rikki" Spector, Baltimore
The writer is a member of the City Council.
CSX to Begin $724M Double-Stack Initiative to Lift Service
The Jacksonville Business Journal (FL)
By Mark Szakonyi
July 28, 2008
What's happening?
CSX Corp. is gearing up its $724 million public-private infrastructure initiative to create an efficient freight railroad link between Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest.
Why does it matter?
By improving its rails, the railroad company will be able to double-stack transportation containers on the rail cars on routes from east to west, thus saving fuel, cutting down on pollution and increasing train use. Double-stacking means stacking one container on top of another.
What's driving it?
Because of increased traffic through the Suez Canal, Mid-Atlantic ports are receiving more cargo, and are expected to receive even more when expansion of the Panama Canal is completed in 2014. Plus, the weaker dollar is boosting manufacturing in the Midwest, creating a need for better routes back to the East Coast.
Lastly, competitor Norfolk Southern Corp. has launched a similar initiative to open up the Midwest to Mid-Atlantic ports.
Aside from expanding and adding new terminals, what else needs to be done?
Overpasses and bridges will have to be raised, and tunnels will need to be bored out to allow the taller double-stacked trains to pass through.
Where is the funding coming from?
CSX is investing $362 million of its own money, and it is expecting the federal government and involved state governments together to match it.
What is the likelihood of the federal government and state governments kicking in?
Good, considering the government agencies realize the economic impact potential of strengthening the rail infrastructure. Plus, the rising cost of diesel fuel is making rail transport more attractive.
What's the time frame?
The initiative kicked off last year and is expected to be completed in 2015.
Key to getting the necessary federal funding is the Highway Authorization Bill in 2010. Construction will begin in 2010.
How is CSX working to get the government agencies involved?
CSX has been in talks with the involved states' transportation departments and various congressional staff members. The most promising news came several weeks ago, when Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland announced he was trying to secure funding for his state's share.
How would the initiative make freight transport safer?
It would increase the amount of cargo that could be shipped by rail, which is the safest mode of ground transportation.
Fewer trucks on the road translate to less congestion and less chance of accidents.
CSX estimates states would see up to $251 million in safety cost savings over 10 years because of the shift.
What does a railway expert think of the initiative?
It's a good idea because it will allow CSX to be "coastally agnostic," Anthony Hatch, ABH Consulting principal, said.
The current administration hasn't been supportive enough of improving the country's railway system, Hatch said, but both presumptive presidential candidates are expected to be more helpful.
Analysis-US Rails Benefit From Fuel, Trucks Awaiting Recovery
Reuters
By Nick Carey
July 18, 2008
For decades, trucks have been the undisputed choice of most companies for hauling freight long distances in the U.S. economy, carrying more than 80 percent of all goods.
But with oil prices at record levels and trucking costs so high, shippers are beginning to look to the railroads as a far cheaper, if less reliable, alternative.
"What we're seeing is the start of a modal shift," said Jason Seidl, an analyst at investment bank Dahlman Rose. "In the past, shippers have been reluctant to move freight to trains from the highway because they are slower and less reliable."
"But the price differential is now so wide that they are reexamining trains as an option," he added.
"We're looking at the trucking sector being a 2009 recovery story at this point," said Lee Klaskow, an analyst at Longbow Research. "We're being more conservative on these stocks until it looks like the U.S. economy is on firmer ground."
Once that happens, truckers that survive the downturn will be able to charge more as demand recovers, even if oil prices remain high.
While the price of oil has tailed off since last Friday's all-time peak of $147.27, it is still about double what it was a year ago.
That hurts truckers, especially when combined with weak demand thanks to sluggish retail sales, a home construction slump and the worst U.S. auto sales in a decade.
As rail officials never tire of pointing out, trains only use around a third of the fuel it takes trucks to move the same freight. This makes them attractive to shippers hurt by the fuel surcharges transport companies have imposed because of higher oil prices.
Trend toward Intermodal
Analysts say this week's second-quarter results from U.S. trucking company JB Hunt Transport Services Inc and railroad CSX Corp (nyse: CSX - news - people ) highlight this trend.
Truckload, or long-haul truck firm, JB Hunt reported a higher-than-expected profit, thanks to a 28 percent jump in intermodal revenue. Intermodal services use standardized containers -- holding consumer or finished goods -- that can be hauled by ship, truck or train.
In a statement JB Hunt said using intermodal to send goods by train had "allowed our customers to partially mitigate the impact of historically higher fuel prices."
The company also said it had reduced its truck fleet by nearly 11 percent over the previous year because of declining business at one of its two trucking divisions.
"We believe much of the trend toward intermodal has been aided by high fuel costs, which have made intermodal considerably more cost effective," Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ) analyst Justin Yagerman wrote in a note for clients.
CSX reported a higher net profit this week despite a 3 percent decline in freight volume but said domestic intermodal shipments were up 12 percent on the year.
Analysts expect the other major railroads -- Union Pacific Corp (nyse: UNP - news - people ), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (nyse: BNI - news - people ) and Norfolk Southern Corp (nyse: NSC - news - people ) -- to post solid results next week thanks to strong pricing, despite disruptions caused by major flooding in the Midwest that primarily affected Union Pacific and BNSF.
The railroads have all maintained pricing power in recent quarters, even though freight volumes have declined, because capacity is still relatively tight.
Trucking companies, however, are not expected to report stellar results.
"None of the big trucking companies are at risk of going under," Dahlman's Seidl said. "But in the short-term we're going to see some challenged results on the truckload side."
Analysts have predicted that falling demand would push weak truck firms out of the market and the remaining companies would benefit because that would aid the supply-and-demand equation.
Some 1,000 small U.S. truck companies went bust in the first quarter and two larger firms -- Delano, New Jersey-based Jevic Transportation Inc and Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Alvan Motor Freight Inc -- shut up shop in the second quarter.
The disappearance of these trucking firms has reduced competition for the remaining truckers, but there has been little uptick in demand. And with the economy continuing to look shaky, conditions may not improve soon.
"(G)iven general economic pressures, we now believe industry demand will ramp more slowly than our original expectations and consequently are taking a more conservative view of 2009 for our coverage universe," R.W. Baird & Co analyst Jon Langenfeld wrote in a research note.
Trucking firms are on the U.S. economy's front line. When things go bad, they suffer first, but when recovery comes they are among the first to benefit.
Analysts said that when the economy does eventually pick up, truck demand will outstrip supply, allowing trucking companies to increase their rates.
"When the U.S. economy recovers the truckers will have pricing power like the railroads do today," Longbow's Klaskow said.
Virginia Rail Agency to Unveil Draft Edition of Statewide Rail Plan
ProgressiveRailroading.com
July 15, 2008
The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) will present a draft statewide rail plan during five public meetings to be held around the commonwealth this month.
Hosted by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, the meetings also will enable DRPT officials to obtain feedback on the plan, which outlines proposed freight- and passenger-rail projects. An update to DRPT's 2004 statewide rail plan, the 2008 version reviews the current state of the commonwealth's rail system and challenges facing the system, such as increasing demand for freight and passenger service, population growth and capacity constraints.
Projects identified in the plan — which represent $4.9 billion in potential investments — involve Class Is, short lines, passenger railroads, the Port of Hampton Roads and a high-speed rail initiative. Class I projects include CSX Transportation's National Gateway Corridor, which would parallel Interstate 95 through Virginia; and Norfolk Southern Corp.'s Crescent Corridor along I-81, Heartland Corridor along U.S. Route 460 and Coal Corridor along Route 460.
Estimated to cost $68 million, proposed short-line projects would bring all of the commonwealth's short-line rail systems up to federal freight and passenger standards, boost small railroads' capacity, and improve Amtrak service between Orange and Clifton Forge. Estimated to cost $178.9 million, port projects include an expansion of the Norfolk International Terminal's central rail yard, construction of the Craney Island rail connection and improvements to the Norfolk Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad.
Passenger-rail projects — which would total $1.7 billion — include commuter-rail improvements on Virginia Railway Express between Alexandria and Manassas, Manassas and Gainesville/Haymarket, and Fredericksburg and Washington, D.C.; and intercity rail initiatives Urban Crescent Express and TransDominion Express. Finally, the proposed $1.2 billion Southeast High-Speed Rail Project calls for establishing high-speed service between Washington and Raleigh, N.C., including a connection between Hampton Roads and Richmond, Va.
DRPT will accept public comments and responses to surveys on the plan until Aug. 25. The agency expects to release a rail action plan in September.
Fuel-efficient freight rail deserves more federal support
The Hill
By Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)
July 10, 2008
Today, across the country, policymakers, industry and consumers alike are all looking for more affordable ways to move people and goods.
Consider this: America's railroads can move one ton of freight roughly the distance between Washington, D.C., and Boston on just one gallon of diesel fuel.
That's pretty amazing energy savings in this time of gas prices topping $4 a gallon and airlines slashing schedules.
It's time we take full advantage of more fuel-efficient forms of transportation and start to think beyond just our highways and airways.
Rail has always been an efficient form of transport, and our nation's railroads continue to make improvements. Today, our trains are 3.1 percent more efficient than they were last year and a whopping 85 percent more efficient than they were in 1980.
Think of how much better off our country would be if all energy users had improved their efficiency by 85 percent since 1980.
And while much has been said recently about more Americans riding Amtrak and our nation's other passenger rails, that is just one half of the track, so to speak.
I'm convinced that robust freight rail service is one of the keys to a sustainable future for our country and our planet.
While trucks will remain a vital component in our nation's transportation system for a long time to come, freight trains help Americans beat congestion by reducing the number of trucks on our roads and saving drivers time, money and fuel costs. For example, one single intermodal train takes some 280 trucks off the road.
And, being so fuel-efficient, freight railroads emit fewer greenhouse gases than cars and trucks. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency says freight trains emit only one-third the greenhouse gases emitted by trucks.
This means that for every ton-mile of freight that moves by rail and not on highways, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by two-thirds. The efficiency of rail also means fewer emissions of nitrogen oxide and other particulate matter.
But if freight and passenger rail are to play a bigger role in our nation's future, we must invest in rail infrastructure to keep up with that expanded role. Already some of our county's rail corridors are congested, and freight traffic continues to grow. According to a study completed last year by Cambridge Systematics, unless capacity is increased, at least one-third of the nation's main rail corridors will be congested by 2035.
Freight railroads are reinvesting large amounts of their own funds into America's rail systems, but that will not be enough funding to take full advantage of railroads' potential to meet our transportation needs. We in the government must do a better job of addressing our nation's aging rail infrastructure.
Recent congressional proposals have included providing a tax credit for projects that expand freight rail capacity or encouraging more public-private partnerships for freight railroad infrastructure projects.
Public-private funding partnerships reflect the fact that cooperation among the railroads and government is far more likely to result in timely, meaningful solutions to transportation problems than a go-it-alone approach.
Yet another option is to ensure that federal climate change legislation directs a portion of funding generated by the sale of emissions credits to rail infrastructure. With today's high energy prices and greater attention focused on climate change, we cannot continue to wait to enhance freight rail capacity.
Next year, when Congress considers legislation to reauthorize the surface transportation program, fight climate change and address high gas prices, it will be vitally important that lawmakers remember the key role that transit, passenger rail and freight rail play in reducing our nation's reliance on foreign oil, while cutting harmful emissions and getting people and goods where they need to go.
Carper is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Statement by Senator George Voinovich (R-OH)
The United States Senate
Jun 6, 2008
Mr. President, I rise today to address the impact the freight rail industry has on reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. According to a recent Department of Transportation study, freight traffic is expected to increase 67 percent by 2020--against a backdrop of concerns about global climate change, the stringency of clean air standards, increased traffic congestion, high energy prices, and the need for greater energy independence. Freight rail is the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly mode of land transportation. Today, freight rail can move a ton of freight 436 miles on a single gallon of diesel. U.S. freight railroads have significantly reduced their carbon intensity and fuel efficiency. In 1980, 1 gallon of diesel fuel moved 1 ton of freight by rail an average of 235 miles. In 2007, the
I am pleased that CSX is working with Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania on the National Gateway. The National Gateway is a plan to create a more efficient rail route linking Mid-Atlantic ports with midwestern markets, improving the flow of rail traffic between these regions by increasing the use of double-stack trains. This public-private partnership will upgrade tracks, equipment and facilities, and provide clearance allowing double-stack intermodal trains.
The National Gateway proposes preparing three major rail corridors for double-stack clearance: I-95 corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore, MD, via Washington, DC; I-70/I-76 corridor between Washington, DC, and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh, PA; and Carolina corridor between Wilmington, NC and Charlotte, NC. The result will be thousands of new jobs, improved railway reliability, and the diversion of heavy trucks from crowded highways leading to reduced emissions and highway maintenance costs and improved road safety.
Since the I-70/I-76 corridor between Washington, DC, and northwest Ohio is a highly traveled route, it is well-located to become an efficient link between the east coast and midwestern markets. Expansion of rail infrastructure in Columbus, OH, and North Baltimore, OH, will help alleviate some of the freight congestion in the Chicago, Cincinnati and Cleveland areas. The National Gateway project would build a new rail terminal in North Baltimore, OH, and expand intermodal capacity in Columbus, creating thousands of new jobs. I look forward to working with the Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania delegations to make this partnership a reality.
Study: freight rail would save D.C. drivers nearly $1,000 per year
Washington Business Journal
by Tierney Plumb
June 30, 2008
Freight rail can help reduce time spent in traffic gridlock and save drivers hundreds of dollars in gasoline and hours behind the wheel, according to a traffic congestion study of 82 major urban areas.
If 25 percent of freight volume is shifted from trucks to rail by 2026, each driver in the D.C. area would annually save 38 hours in their car, 71 gallons of fuel and $891 in fuel costs, according to the study released by D.C.-based Association of American Railroads.
Since modern freight locomotives emit less nitrogen oxide and particulate matter than trucks, they would decrease air pollutant emissions by 22,000 tons in the area, and 920,500 tons across the U.S.
Freight trains, which are at least four times more fuel efficient than trucks, can move one ton of freight 436 miles on one gallon of fuel.
"Because one intermodal train can take nearly 300 trucks off our highways, shifting freight from trucks to trains reduces competition between commuters, drivers and freight traffic for space on the road," said Wendell Cox, author of the study and principal of Demographia. "Freeing up space on our highways increases the flow of traffic and saves commuters' time, money and gasoline."
Want to Reduce Greenhouse Gasses by 12 Million Tons A Year? Ship by Rail, Not by Truck
The Lindberg Report
By Max Lindberg
May 22, 2008
"Railroads are the most environmentally friendly and energy efficient way to move goods on land."
Freight trains have evolved over the years, carrying freight in a variety of ways, including taking semi-trailer rigs off the highways and shipping them on flat-cars. If you're anywhere near a railroad track, you'll see what are called intermodal trains carrying shipping containers stacked on top of one another, along with trailers and the usual box cars and other forms of equipment.
However, the physical infrastructure in some areas of the country creates a barrier for some railroads who want to stack shipping containers in order to carry more freight.
Such is the dilemma of mid-Atlantic coast rail line CSX, anticipating completion of the Panama Canal Upgrade project. When completed, ships with more than double the capacity of freight containers will be able to make the transition between the two oceans, increasing the amount of goods delivered to and shipped from mid-Atlantic ports.
CSX has launched it's National Gateway program, a $700 million project to expands the railway's freight carrying capacity.
I spoke with Mr. Robert Sullivan of CSX, about the project, what it will mean to the mid-Atlantic-Midwest shipping corridor, and to the environment.
"One immediate benefit is as this gets built, it takes trucks off the interstates, including Interstate 68," Bob Sullivan, CSX spokesman, said. "There are different benefits, and one of the main ones is the environment because this will reduce some of the material that goes into the air. It also will reduce the wear and tear on highways."
Click here to listen to the podcast interview.
I've posted a written version of the podcast on Gas2.0.
National Gateway; $700 million CSX initiative to have local impact
The Cumberland Times-News (MD)
By Maria Smith
May 20, 2008
It's a $700-million venture that while it may not involve construction along the rails through Cumberland, it will have an impact on them.
Earlier this month, CSX Corp. revealed its plans for what's known as the National Gateway, a public-private partnership designed to "create a highly efficient transportation link between the Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest."
Annually, railroad tracks carry about 76 million tons of freight through Maryland. By 2020, it's estimated that the rails will carry more than 25 billion tons of freight nationwide.
National Gateway would allow CSX to "double stack" its intermodal trains, which is transportation that uses more than one carrier, such as rails and tractor-trailers.
An obvious problem is clearance and the need to make sure trains have room to move through tunnels.
National Gateway has two phases, one of which would require CSX to build or expand intermodal terminals where product is exchanged between the trains and trucks. At the same time, CSX, state and federal governments would work to create the "double-stack clearance" necessary for such trains. These would be below public overpasses along the railroad.
"One immediate benefit is as this gets built, it takes trucks off the interstates, including Interstate 68," Bob Sullivan, CSX spokesman, said. "There are different benefits, and one of the main ones is the environment because this will reduce some of the material that goes into the air. It also will reduce the wear and tear on highways."
CSX has committed $300 million* to the project and will work with several states and the federal government to secure the remaining $400 million. To date, Ohio is the only state to sign on for the effort and CSX chose Pacer International, a CSX customer in Dublin, Ohio, as the site of the announcement.
"We're talking with all states and it's being well received and well thought of," Sullivan said, noting the plan is to have the project completed by about 2015.
The rail corridors to be enhanced include the Interstate 70/Interstate 76 corridor between Washington and northwest Ohio through Pittsburgh; I-95 corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore through Washington; and what's known as the Carolina corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, N.C.
CSX expects the initiative to create thousands of jobs.
"More and more, the nation is becoming aware of the tremendous safety, economic and environmental benefits that railroads create," Michael Ward, chairman, president and chief executive officer of CSX, said in a news release. "Our trains can move a ton of freight 423 miles on a single gallon of fuel, and one train can carry the load of more than 280 trucks."
Cambridge Systematics, a transportation research firm, conducted a study of the National Gateway and found that for every $1 in public monies invested, $8 will be seen in public benefits. The study noted that by "improving the flow of freight and shifting freight transportation from the highway to the railway, the initiative will improve safety, relieve congestion, benefit the environment and reduce highway maintenance costs."
CSX rails cover about 21,000 miles in 23 eastern states and Washington and connect to more than 70 ocean, river and lake ports.
Transportation infrastructure: CSX launches National Gateway
Rail carrier says $700 million PPP will provide efficient transportation link between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwest
Logistics Management
By: Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
May 12, 2008
DUBLIN, Ohio-Earlier this month, Class I railroad carrier CSX Corporation unveiled its plans for the National Gateway, a $700 million public-private partnership (PPP) infrastructure initiative that it said will provide a highly efficient transportation link between the Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest. The railroad carrier has committed $300 million* to the National Gateway and plans to work with various states and the federal government for the remaining funding needed.
CSX said that when the National Gateway is completed, it will provide greater capacity for product shipments in and out of the Midwest, reduce truck traffic on congested highways, as well as create thousands of jobs that will directly or indirectly support the National Gateway.
The company explained that the National Gateway will be comprised of the following: the building or expansion of several high-capacity, job-producing intermodal terminals where product shipments are exchanged between trucks and trains; and CSX collaborating with state and federal government agencies to create double-stack clearances beneath public overpasses along the railroad, which allow each train to carry roughly twice as many cargo boxes, according to a company statement.
The announcement introducing the National Gateway was made at the offices of CSX customer, Pacer International, a provider of freight transportation and logistics services with a major presence in the intermodal transportation marketplace. Anthony B. Hatch, principal of ABH Consulting in New York, told LM that the National Gateway, continues the model to bring in a wide variety of constituents to support efforts to add infrastructure capacity and plan for a future where rails will take a greater role.
"What's striking to me is that not only is this an interesting public-private partnership but that by announcing at Pacer's HQ it clearly demonstrates the intermodal (ship-truck-rail) cooperation that will be critical today and even more so in the future to make these corridors (and really, freight movement in an increasingly congested world) work," said Hatch. "CSX is spending for the future, even in a freight recession, and as an analyst who believes in the "rail renaissance" I find that highly encouraging."
CSX said that the National Gateway will focus on three existing rail corridors that run through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia: the I-70/I-76 Corridor between Washington, D.C. and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh; the I-95 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore via Washington, D.C.; and the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Similar in scope: The National Gateway in some ways-most notably creating double-stacked clearances-is similar to Norfolk Southern's Heartland Corridor, which runs between the port of Hampton Roads, Virginia and Chicago. NS began working on the Heartland Corridor last November. It is expected to be completed in 2010 and is expected to increase capacity by raising vertical clearances in 28 tunnels along the Heartland Corridor.
Ohio Town Feels Economic Pinch
Ohio News Network
May 13, 2008
Most everyone is feeling the strain of the economy, whether it is high gas prices, grocery store costs or jobs cuts.
In one month, the northwest Ohio town of North Baltimore saw a 10 percent loss of it's job force.
ONN's Denise Alex visited the town now hoping one company can keep the village financially on track.
At 83, Dorothy Franks can't think of anywhere else she would rather be than North Baltimore.
Her 88-year-old husband, Merle Franks, agrees.
"It is a nice town, nice people," said Mr. Franks.
Still, nice doesn't cut it when it comes to keeping jobs in a village of 3,300.
"Things have changed a lot here," said Mrs. Franks.
In just the past month, two of the village's big employers announced cuts or closures.
The Johnson Rubber Company folded last month, taking 130 jobs with it.
Now, North Baltimore's Continental Structural Plastics Plant is laying off 200 of it's 270 person workforce by the end of the year.
A plastics worker who didn't want to be identified is among those soon-to-be out of work.
"I've got a back up plan," said the worker of 25 years. "But I feel really sorry for a lot of those other folks that don't. The way these companies don't care about your loyalty to them."
Many hope construction expected to begin at the end of the year on a new $80 million CSX Rail terminal, with 100 possible jobs available just west of North Baltimore, will help the area.
"Anything to boost, you're glad to get anything," said Merle Franks.
Mr. Franks remembers a booming North Baltimore. At that time, there were lots of grocery stores, banks, and very few vacant buildings.
"Now there are a lot of people out here who drive to Findlay, 18 miles, to buy groceries," said Mr. Franks.
Many hope the new CSX Rail terminal will get this village's economy back on track, but it won't be open until 2010.
Just a couple of years to some, but it is an eternity for others waiting for work.
"You see it happening in other communities, it's happening everywhere," said the soon-to-be laid off worker. "Things have got to change."
The First Step Toward a New Economic Future for Northwest Ohio
CBS WTOL 11 Editorial
By: Bob Chirdon, Vice President and General Manager WTOL 11
May 9, 2008
"CSX announces Wood County terminal as part of bigger plan"
The Toledo Blade
By David Patch
May 1, 2008
CSX Transportation's planned rail terminal west of North Baltimore, Ohio is part of a broader "National Gateway" campaign to improve freight transportation between mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest, the railroad announced during a news conference Thursday in Dublin, Ohio.
Of $300 million* of its own money that CSX has committed to the project, $130 million is to be spent in Ohio, including $80 million for the new North Baltimore terminal and $50 million for expansion of an existing rail yard in south Columbus.
But CSX also is seeking public funds, primarily to replace road overpasses that are too low for trains carrying freight containers stacked two-high on flatcars to pass beneath.
Over the past quarter century, so-called "double-stack" trains have become the railroad industry's most efficient means for transporting containerized freight, both in conjunction with ocean ship lines and on routes within North America.
In meeting with local officials to plan for the North Baltimore terminal, CSX officials indicated that one of its key purposes would be sorting shipments received at Chicago from railroads serving Pacific ports into new trains bound for points throughout CSX's network.
Such shipments today are often unloaded at the western railroads' terminals, trucked across Chicago's congested expressways, then reloaded onto trains at CSX's Chicago yards.
Cargo bound for destinations less than a day's drive from Chicago often takes the highway the rest of the way from the Windy City - business the railroad would like to tap into.
Yesterday's news conference, however, revealed an eastern dimension to the North Baltimore facility.
To allow freight to flow between North Baltimore and ports in North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, CSX has requested that Ohio spend about $60 million to raise or replace 16 low bridges that span its Chicago-Pittsburgh-Washington main line in eastern Ohio, spokesman Bob Sullivan said.
Similar requests have been made for such "clearance projects" along the same route in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia and on connecting routes in other eastern states. CSX estimated the combined cost of building terminals, raising bridges, and other improvements at $700 million.
Gov. Ted Strickland responded favorably to the plan's Ohio portion.
"This is a major competitive advantage that can greatly benefit the citizens of Ohio, and the state of Ohio is committed to doing its part to help build this sort of needed infrastructure," he said in prepared remarks. "In doing so, we'll also be setting an example for other states around the nation."
The North Baltimore facility, for which CSX hopes to break ground late this year and plans a 2010 opening, is expected to employ about 100 people and stretch along the north side of State Rt. 18 between Liberty Hi and Range Line roads in southwestern Wood County.
Last week, a CSX subsidiary purchased 77 acres in the middle of the site that had been the largest missing piece among an estimated 500 acres to be used for the terminal.
"CSX's National Gateway initiative to include South Side rail yard"
The Columbus Dispatch
By Mike Pramik
May 1, 2008
CSX Corp. plans to invest $50 million in its South Side rail yard as part of a multistate project designed to increase the flow of goods through the Midwest.
The National Gateway initiative, as the company calls it, spans six states and involves building several new rail terminals and solidifying miles of track to support double-stacked shipping containers. The result would be more goods coming to Ohio from the East Coast, the company said today.
The project would include construction of "intermodal" terminals in northwestern Ohio and at the CSX yard at Groveport Road and Parsons Avenue that allow the company to move shipping containers back and forth between rail cars and tractor-trailer trucks.
The Ohio investment is expected to total $190 million, and the projects could bring thousands of new jobs to the state by the time they are completed in 2015, the company said.
The CSX project is larger than Norfolk Southern's $150 million Heartland Corridor effort, which resulted in a new terminal accommodating both rail and over-road shipping near Rickenbacker Airport.
"I think we both see that central Ohio is a key area for logistics development in the future, and we both want to play," said CSX Chief Executive Michael J. Ward.
After decades of cutbacks and business lost to trucking companies, railroads are making a comeback thanks in part to high gasoline prices. Ward said railroads can ship a ton of freight 423 miles on one gallon of fuel and one train can carry the load of more than 280 trucks.
Gov. Ted Strickland helped CSX roll out the plan, in the works for at least a year, at the Dublin offices of Pacer International Logistics. Strickland said the state "is committed to doing its part" to build the infrastructure.
"This is a major competitive advantage that can greatly benefit the citizens of Ohio," Strickland said.
Ohio will be asked to contribute $30 million toward rebuilding rail lines, an amount that would be matched by federal funding, said Lisa Mancini, CSX vice president of strategic infrastructure initiatives. The $60 million in infrastructure improvement work in Ohio would cover 16 sites outside central Ohio.
"No one has written a check, but so far we have gotten very favorable response (in Ohio)," Mancini said.
While the expanded rail yard could give central Ohio's logistics industry a boost, the National Gateway actually bypasses Columbus. It unites the East Coast ports of Wilmington, N.C.; Portsmouth, Va.; and Baltimore, and it will send goods westward through Pittsburgh and to million terminal in New Baltimore, in northwestern Ohio.
CSX has 4,000 miles of track in Ohio, including two lines that run from Toledo to Columbus. One of them goes through Marion, where CSX opened a terminal for mixing road and rail shipping in 2006.
The project might not increase the amount of freight that moves through Columbus, but it " certainly will change the direction from which it comes and will certainly let the cargo move in its most-efficient route," said Mike Uremovich, CEO of Pacer Logistics.
CSX said it has started clearing the South Side site. Part of the project involves moving Sills Park, a 23-acre baseball field operated by Columbus Recreation and Parks Department. Parks spokeswoman Terri Leist confirmed the department has had an initial meeting with CSX about moving the diamonds nearby.
However, Mancini said, it's unclear when the new terminal will be completed. Ward said it's possible the future of CSX's West Side yard could be as an expanded "transflow" terminal, where goods are broken down into smaller shipments.
CSX said that by allowing for double-stacked container shipments, the National Gateway will enhance existing rail corridors running through Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.
"Last year our operating income was $2.2 billion, and we put $1.7 (billion) back into the infrastructure," Ward said. "We really think it's going to be required for the long term."
"CSX plans Ohio terminals"
The Associated Press
By Julie Carr Smyth
May 1, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio - CSX Corp. said Thursday it will spend $300 million* on upgrades that would allow trains with double-stacked cars to run from the East Coast to the Midwest.
For the effort to go forward, the federal government would have to provide an additional $400 million to change 70 overpasses in six states that would be too short for the double-stacked cars to pass under.
The Florida-based railroad points to its plan to invest in two Ohio freight terminals that would handle the trains with taller cargo cars as proof it is serious about the issue. Those terminals would be in North Baltimore in northwest Ohio and in Columbus.
The railroad says double-stacked trains use about the same amount of fuel to carry more freight faster.
New map promotes Appalachian attractions by car "Interestingly, a lot of states are starting to realize more and more that some relatively small investments in rail infrastructure can be very cost-effective in relieving congestion," Michael Ward, CSX's chairman, president and chief executive, said in an interview.
The company's National Gateway project would prepare three major rail corridors in the eastern United States to handle train cars stacked boxes high.
Overpasses in six states - Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland - would have to be dealt with to make the project happen, either by lowering railroad beds or by notching or replacing bridges, said vice president Lisa Mancini.
CSX will invest a combined $130 million in the two Ohio terminals that would sit at the western end of the double-stacked network.
The Wood County facility would serve as a rail hub to points north and south, including Cincinnati and Detroit. Mancini said both will be built regardless of whether funding is secured for the entire project.
Freight and passenger rail traffic have been on the rise in recent years, said CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan, in the face of increased traffic congestion, deteriorating highway infrastructure and high gas prices.
The three rail corridors CSX has targeted with its effort are Interstate 95 between North Carolina and Baltimore via Washington, D.C.; I-70/I-76 between Washington, D.C., and Wood County, Ohio, via Pittsburgh; and the Carolina corridor from Wilmington, Del., and Charlotte.
CSX plans Ohio terminals to handle double-stacked trains
The Associated Press
May 1, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio - CSX Corporation says it will spend $300 million* on upgrades that would allow trains with double-stacked cars to run from the East Coast to the Midwest.
For the effort to go forward, the federal government would have to provide an additional $400 million to change 70 overpasses in six states that would be too short for the double-stacked cars to pass under.
The Florida-based railroad points to its plan to invest in two Ohio freight terminals that would handle the trains with taller cargo cars as proof it is serious about the issue. Those terminals would be located in North Baltimore in northeast Ohio and in south Columbus.
The railroad says double-stacked trains use about the same amount of fuel to carry more freight faster.
CSX plans $190 million rail upgrade in Ohio
The Plain Dealer
By Frank Bentayou
May 1, 2008
Transport company CSX Corp. announced plans Thursday for $190 million in improvements along key Ohio rail lines as well as development of two major freight terminals in the state.
The projects, which the railroad said it will finance with its own resources along with what it hopes will be federal and state contributions, are part of a larger initiative the Jacksonville, Fla., company calls "the national gateway."
An expected $130 million to build the two Ohio terminals and another $60 million to widen rail bridges and tunnels to accommodate larger loads, the company said, are part of a bigger plan. It's an estimated $700 million initiative to link Great Lakes and Midwest manufacturing venues with the East Coast and some of its deep-water ports.
Once the terminals and rail improvements are completed, within seven years, company Vice President Lisa Manikin said, "the gateway will provide a highly efficient freight transportation link" for containers of products and commodities that will move longer distances on rail, shorter hauls on trucks.
The ports included in the initiative are in Baltimore, Portsmouth, Va., and Wilmington, N.C. CSX's goal is to create easier access for more heavily laden freight cars between manufacturing centers in all parts of Ohio and the rest of the United States and the world.
The rail company already has purchased land in Wood County near North Baltimore and in Dublin, west of Columbus, on which to build the intermodal terminals that will facilitate transfer of containers between rail cars and trucks.
Mancini, vice president of strategic infrastructure initiatives, did not commit to a date when construction would begin. But the Wood County terminal is scheduled for completion by 2010.
She said the terminals are likely to spur development of distribution and logistics centers nearby, bringing jobs to both parts of the state.
The terminals themselves typically are not big employers, she said. "But we would expect each one could draw 2,000 outside jobs" to any neighboring distribution facilities that companies like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and The Limited might build.
Creating more jobs is an often-mentioned goal of Gov. Ted Strickland and his administration. The governor spoke at Thursday's announcement, which took place in the offices of Pacer International, a CSX customer and logistics and freight-transportation provider in Dublin.
The state has not made any commitment of resources to the railroad's ambitious project. "The governor is there to support the company's investment in Ohio," said Keith Daily, a Strickland spokesman.
Railroad transport of the products made in Ohio and of the materials used in their manufacture has many advantages, including fuel efficiency, low levels of harmful air emissions and fewer trucks on highways, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Companies like CSX are getting more long-haul freight business each year. The transportation department has predicted rail freight will nearly double in the next 20 years.
Refinements over the past decade in the intermodal method of freight transport has simplified and rendered more efficient and reliable the transfer of containers between trucks and train cars.
Norfolk Southern, a railroad with an intermodal terminal in Maple Heights, smoothly transfers hundreds of carloads of containers each week. Big, modern terminals like those CSX plans will handle thousands of such carloads.
Most of the infrastructure improvements the company intends are to make room in tunnels and on bridges for double-stacked rail cars, which pile containers on top of containers to ship long distances. Conventional container cars lug as many as 280 boxes. Double-stacked cars can handle 400 and stand 22 feet high.
The 79 bottlenecks CSX has identified along its 6,000 miles of Ohio track include bridges and tunnels that need relatively small refinements to provide the clearance such loads require.
Benefits to Ohio industry could be less-expensive transportation for goods in and out of the state via less fuel-hungry vehicles and a possible inducement for shipping and distribution companies to open operations here.
Freight by Rail Enjoys Comeback
Track being laid for first time in 80 years as fuel costs hurt truckers
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 3:12 AM
By Frank Ahrens
THE WASHINGTON POST
RADFORD, Va. -- When Bob Billingsley hired on with Norfolk Southern railway 31 years ago, he was a rookie on work crews that were closing unused lines as the nation's economy turned its back on the railroads.
Now, he's in charge of raising the roof of a Norfolk Southern tunnel in southwestern Virginia to clear headroom for the double-stacked container cars that have become the symbol of the industry's surge, thanks to a confluence of powerful global factors.
"For years, we were looking for ways to cut costs to increase profits," said Billingsley, as a train rumbled by. "Now, we're building business to increase profits."
The freight railway industry is enjoying its biggest building boom in nearly a century, a turnaround as abrupt as it is ambitious. It is largely fueled by growing global trade and rising fuel costs for 18-wheelers. In 2002, the major railroads laid off 4,700 workers; in 2006, they hired more than 5,000. Profit in the industry has doubled since 2003, and stock prices have soared. The value of the largest railroad, Union Pacific, has tripled since 2001.
This year, railroads will spend nearly $10 billion to add track, build switchyards and terminals and open tunnels to handle the coming flood of traffic. Freight rail tonnage will rise nearly 90 percent by 2035, the U.S. Transportation Department forecasts.
In central Ohio, rail activity is big and could get bigger. Norfolk Southern has operations in the Rickenbacker area, and CSX, which operates a West Side terminal, has expressed interest in expansion elsewhere in central Ohio. In Marion, CSX and others operate an "intermodal" center, moving shipping containers between trucks and railroad cars.
In the 1970s, tight federal regulation, cheap truck fuel and a wide-open interstate highway system conspired to cripple the railroad industry, driving many lines into bankruptcy. The nation's 300,000 miles of rails became a web of slow-moving, poorly maintained lines, so dilapidated in spots that tracks would give way under standing trains.
The Staggers Rail Act of 1980 largely deregulated the industry, leading to a wave of consolidation. More than 40 major lines condensed into the seven that remain, running on 162,000 miles of track.
But the changing global market has fueled prosperity and the need to add track for the first time in 80 years. Soaring diesel prices and a driver shortage have pushed freight from 18-wheelers back onto the rails. At the same time, because of China's unquenchable appetite for coal and the escalating U.S. demand for Chinese goods, more U.S. rail traffic is heading to and from ports in the Northwest.
Coal still accounts for the most tonnage hauled by U.S. railroads, but it is the ocean-crossing shipping container -- carrying autos, toys, furniture and nearly every other product a consumer will buy -- that has lit a rocket under the railroad industry. Passenger rail traffic is also increasing; 2007 was Amtrak's fifth consecutive year of increased ridership, up 6 percent from 2006.
Fortune has even dropped a "green" gift in the industry's lap. A train can haul a ton of freight 423 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel, about a 3-to-1 fuel-efficiency advantage over 18-wheelers, and the railroad industry is increasingly promoting itself as an eco-friendly alternative. Trucking firms also use the rail lines; UPS is the railroad industry's biggest customer.
Rail traffic, revenue and profit began to soar in 2002 and '03 and seem largely immune to the economic downturn. CSX reported a record first-quarter profit. This week, the stock price of Western rail giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe hit an all-time high. At the industry's nadir in the 1970s, railroad companies' average annual rate of return on investment was 1.2 percent. By 2006, it was 10.2 percent.
Even though the economic slump has reduced key traffic about 4 percent this year from last year, it has not slowed the railroads' urgent laying of track. Capital expenses this year are up, as the railroads think the downturn is temporary, said the industry's trade group, the Association of American Railroads.
The industry estimates that $148 billion worth of expansion is needed to carry the amount of traffic expected by 2035. Of that, the railroad companies will contribute $96 billion, said the industry's trade group. The rest would have to come from the federal and state governments.
The railroads say that more trains mean fewer trucks on the road and less air pollution, public benefits that the public should help pay for.
They also say they could not achieve the profits Wall Street demands without government subsidies. The railroads seek a tax credit that would help them expand.
The industry's long-standing antitrust exemption has attracted the attention of lawmakers who want to eliminate it and closely examine the rates that railroads charge to haul freight. The industry contends that would cripple its expansion at a critical time.
Information from Dispatch research was used in this story.
Americans for Transportation Mobility Study Finds the Lack of a National Transportation Strategy and Investment Harms U.S. Economy
WASHINGTON, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - The U.S. transportation system is failing to keep pace with the demands of a 21st century economy and a piecemeal approach to improving the nation's transportation infrastructure no longer works, concluded a study released today by the Americans for Transportation Mobility Coalition, and the National Chamber Foundation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
"If the United States declines to invest in transportation infrastructure and ignores the transportation needs of key industry sectors, our economy will become less productive and less competitive," warned ATM Executive Director Janet F. Kavinoky. "Without an adequate transportation system, the nation's economic growth is at risk" Kavinoky added.
Meanwhile, global competitors have increased investment in transportation infrastructure. Economic powerhouses like China are building highways and rail lines, developing ports, and constructing airports while the U.S. transportation system erodes, the study said. As a result, "the margin of the U.S. competitive advantage is shrinking," noted the study.
The study, "The Transportation Challenge: Moving the U.S. Economy," attributed the poor performance of U.S. transportation system to the growing imbalance between supply and demand and the increasing age of the nation's infrastructure. Without investment guided by new policies, the U.S. transportation system will fall further behind the growing demand of five major economic sectors -- agriculture and natural resources, manufacturing, retail, services, and transportation -- that account for 84 percent of the U.S. economy.
Given population growth, shifting demographics and steady economic growth, a high-performance transportation system is a necessity. The U.S. population is projected to grow from 300 million today to 380 million people in 2035, while the economy is likely to double over the next 30 years, as is demand for freight transportation. These changing demographics create a more global, a more urban economy with a more diverse and aging workforce. Expanding demand and shrinking capacity for both freight and passengers across every mode of transportation raises fears about increased congestion, less reliability, and higher costs.
The report urged policymakers to become much more strategic in planning and investing in the U.S. transportation system. "If we do not, our transportation system will become a competitive disadvantage for U.S. industries, and it will be harder to sustain the growth of our regions and the national economy," the report said.
The study made a number of recommendations to address the transportation problem.
-- Greater emphasis on economic needs and issues, including attention to regional mobility, in formulating national transportation initiatives
-- Development of a national consensus among citizens, businesses, and political leaders on the importance of increased investment in transportation infrastructure
-- Immediate attention to the approaching deficit in the federal Highway Trust Fund
-- Greater emphasis on investments in a national freight transportation program that would implement highway, rail, and marine transportation improvements to benefit commerce
-- More public investment in infrastructure, using all potential revenue sources, including user fees and other revenues collected at different levels of government
-- Increased use of financing and credit options including tax credits and public-private partnerships, to leverage an estimated $200 billion in private capital available for transportation infrastructure investment
"We must act now," Kavinoky emphasized. "This report's findings demand a rapid response. We must develop and implement a comprehensive plan to build, maintain, and fund a 21st century transportation system equal to the demands of a rapidly changing world and a robust national economy. We have only one option: Invest now, or pay later."
A copy of the report and a report summary are available at: www.uschamber.com/transportationchallenge
/CONTACT: John Moore, +1-202-683-3110, jmooreqorvis.com, for the Americans for Transportation Mobility Coalition/
Railroads Pull for Public-Private Partnerships
Heerwagen, Peter
1 September 2007
North Valley Business Journal
At the 20th Quad State Legislative Conference, held at the Holiday Inn in Martinsburg, the QuadCo group of economic developers had representatives of the two large railroads in the region make presentations on improvements they are making and looking to make in the 1-81 corridor,
Before those presentations, Mike Ross, president of the Franklin County Area Development Corporation, gave a few remarks on the region's economy.
"The valley has a very vibrant economy, driven mostly by 1-81, but it is balanced, with a manufacturing sector that is stronger than the rest of the United States," said Ross. "The health-care and education sectors continue to grow, and the region has benefited from the BRAC decision [not to downsize or close Letterkenny Army Depot]. The base has emerged, with 3,000 employees and a diversified mission; its output was $150 million in 2001, and it was $500 million in 2006.
"The region's challenge is workforce development, and it will get worse before it gets better, because the baby boomers are transitioning out. Employers are continually searching for workers.
"The railroads bring the potential for more job growth. They affect the region in all positive ways as key players in our economic growth."
Jason French, CSX Corp.'s director of public affairs for Maryland and Delaware, emphasized the growing role of railroads in the nation's economy, as well as the CSX intermodal facility in Chambersburg, scheduled to open shortly.
FrenchsaidCSX'spredecessor railroad, the B&O, had been in the Hagerstown and Chambersburg area since 1830, when freight was moved west from Baltimore. "Railroads will have a very important place in the nation's future regarding economic development.
"There is a growing demand for railroad freight, especially intermodal traffic [containers that move from ships to rail to truck]. The U.S. Department of Transportation projects a 60% increase in the amount of freight by 2020, and 80% in Maryland.
"Rail is at capacity and highways are above capacity, and it will only get worse by 2020. Congestion is most serious in the eastern half of the United States.
"We believe an investment in freight rail is an important part of the solution. One train is the equivalent of 280 trucks. The mid- Atlantic ports are receiving more freight each year because the West Coast is crowded, so goods from China and India are coming east."
One of the solutions is to double-stack containers on rail cars, said French, and CSX is hoping to rework clearance problems through tunnels to accommodate such trains going from Atlantic ports-Baltimore and Portsmouth-into the Midwest and inland ports in Pittsburgh and the new one in Chambersburg.
French said CSX Intermodal, a unit of CSX Corp., chose Chambersburg for its terminal to better serve existing businesses in central Pennsylvania, which is a new growth market for the railroad. "Industry follows railroad development. It's an ideal location, near Chambers-5 Business Park and along 1-81, to better service customers. There are 30 million square feet of warehouse space within 100 miles of the terminal. It's also closer to a competing facility that Norfolk Southern has in Harrisburg.
"There was a need for public-private cooperation, and we worked with Chambersburg and Franklin County officials, who helped bring the intermodal project to fruition. We received $500,000 from the state for infrastructure improvements-water, sewer and roads."
James Hixson, Norfolk Southern's executive vice president, law and public relations and chief legal officer, lobbied for a public-private partnership in his company's $2 billion Crescent Line project, part of which parallels 1-81. "The issue is not the amount of capital out there, but the return on that capital. We are willing to pay for the private benefit, but the public should pay for the public benefit."
Hixson said that type of partnership was evident in Norfolk Southern's Heartland Corridor project, where rail lines were double stacked from Norfolk to Columbus and on to Chicago. The federal government and Virginia, Ohio and Tennessee put money into the project.
The Crescent Corridor project includes upgrading rail from New Orleans to Memphis, Atlanta and Lynchburg, north to Hagerstown and linking major markets in between. "That will make us competitive with truck traffic because we need to move freight faster, and the rail is not developed along the Crescent Corridor," said Hixson.
"It could take 1 million trucks off I-81. We're working closely with trucking companies who have told us, 'You have to take off the road our trucks that are going more than 500 miles.' They realize they need to move their [long haul] trucks off the highways."
Norfolk Southern is looking to add 28 trains in its Crescent Corridor network and build intermodal facilities in eastern Tennessee and central Maryland, as well as make track improvements, add sidings and double track the lines.
"The $2 billion cost is high for the railroad, but not for highway spending," said Hixson. "We are looking for federal and state funding, as we can substantiate the public benefits. Virginia has already given us $40 million."
Norfolk Southern is waiting for the 1-81 Freight Rail Study, commissioned by Virginia, which will be completed this fall, before going into details of how many dollars the company would ask each state to contribute to the Crescent Corridor project. "We have had discussions with Virginia over the years, and some with Tennessee and Pennsylvania, but not much with Maryland. That state is in better shape than the others; all that is needed are additional sidings and an intermodal facility.
"The next federal highway bill comes in 2009," said Hickson, "and it will have regional and national significance. Norfolk Southern can't make the case by itself; we need state support."
Statistics on Intermodal Facility at Chambersburg:
21,000 feet of tracks
1,000 parking places
3 lift machines
90,000 annual lifts, or 300 truck trips a day, 150 in and 150 out.
One inbound and one outbound train per day, to and from Chicago.
Railroads ready for intermodal growth
BILL MONGELLUZZO
4 February 2008
Shipping Digest
Intermodal volumes declined in 2007, but that did not deter railroads from investing large amounts of capital to prepare for future growth, the president of CSX Intermodal said.
"The railroad industry is ready for growth" this year, Jim Hertwig told a meeting of the Los Angeles Transportation Club.
The rail industry as a whole invested $9 billion last year to increase lift capacity, double-track key corridors, expand intermodal rail facilities, and expand overall network capacity. CSX, the largest eastern railroad, invested $1.6 billion of that total. CSX and the industry as a whole will make similar capital investments in 2008, Hertwig said.
Weak cargo volumes gave the railroads an operational breather after six years of steady growth, allowing the carriers to concentrate on improved service. The Class 1 railroads reported a drop in total cargo, and most railroads reported declining intermodal traffic. Union Pacific's intermodal traffic increased less than 1 percent; CSX traffic declined 3.4 percent; Norfolk Southern reported a drop of 4.2 percent; and BNSF reported a decline of 6.6 percent, Hertwig said.
But increasing freight rates resulted in strong yields and improved service offerings, he said.
The U.S. economy is projected to increase 2.3 percent this year - slightly more than the 2 percent growth a year ago. A mild recovery is anticipated in the second half of the year, which should lift rail business, including intermodal.
Railroads are showing signs of cooperation to improve service on east-west corridors. For example, last year CSX and BNSF reduced the transit time from Southern California to Atlanta by one day through a joint venture. Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern formed a similar joint venture with their Meridian Speedway project between Meridian, Miss., and Shreveport, La.
CSX's Northwest Ohio Interchange project will improve east-west transit times by avoiding the one- to two-day delays that occur when western and eastern railroads interline services in Chicago.
Also, CSX's National Gateway project will connect ports such as Baltimore and Portsmouth, Va., with population centers in the Midwest, similar to the Norfolk Southern Heartland Corridor linking Virginia with the Midwest.
These projects will help East Coast ports expand their intermodal reach in line with the growth of all-water shipping services from Asia.
*National Gateway Update: Since the publication of this news story, CSX has increased its financial commitment to the National Gateway to $350 million.