New NS Intermodal Facility

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Pennsylvania
Intermodal terminal construction  could start in September
Rail-truck facility could employ  126 people once it opens in 2012
By JENNIFER FITCH
April 20,  2010
_waynesboro at herald-mail.com_ (mailto:waynesboro at herald-mail.com)  
 
GREENCASTLE, Pa. — _Construction_ 
(http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=243886&format=html#)  could start in September for  an Antrim 
Township, Pa., rail-truck facility estimated to cost $95 million to  $105 
million.  
The intermodal terminal could employ 126 people once opened,  possibly in 
early 2012, a Norfolk Southern representative said Tuesday morning.  
The facility will be part of Norfolk Southern’s improvements  to the 
Southeast to Northeast corridor, which Industrial Development Director  Roger 
Bennett said is “very underserved today.”  
Bennett addressed a sizable crowd Tuesday during the  Greencastle-Antrim 
Chamber of Commerce’s monthly breakfast.  
Franklin County (Pa.) Area Development Corp. President L.  Michael Ross 
thanked Bennett and Norfolk Southern for the commitment to the  county.  
“We work with a lot of companies for site location, and  Norfolk Southern 
has done this right. ... The potential impact on Franklin  County and the 
region is enormous,” Ross said.  
Norfolk Southern will start early advertising for  construction companies 
in the next two weeks, Bennett said. It will finalize the  purchase of land 
at exit 3 off Interstate 81 in mid-June and go out for bids  around the same 
time, he said.  
The company, which operates 21,000 route miles in 22 states,  will 
simultaneously be building similar intermodal facilities in Memphis, Tenn.,  and 
Birmingham, Ala., Bennett said. It also will expand its Pennsylvania  terminals 
in Harrisburg and Philadelphia as part of the first phase of the  Crescent 
Corridor initiative, he said.  
Norfolk Southern made $1.3 billion of capital investments on  its system 
last year.  
“We’re the most capital-intensive industry,” Bennett said.  
The recession hurt the company most from Thanksgiving 2008 to  March 2009, 
according to Bennett. While most of 2009 was financially difficult,  Norfolk 
Southern reported a $1 billion net income at the end, he said.  
“We’ve seen downturns before, but we had never seen any  downturn that hit 
every segment of our business,” he said.  
Almost 30 percent of the company’s revenue comes from _hauling_ 
(http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=243886&format=html#)  coal and 
similar fuel materials,  and 19 percent of revenue comes from the intermodal 
facilities. The other  segment of Norfolk Southern’s business includes 
general merchandise, including  metals and wood.  
One of the breakfast’s attendees asked what _commodities_ 
(http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=243886&format=html#)  would be 
transferred from  tractor-trailers to rail cars at the Antrim Township terminal. 
Bennett said the  items would be “essentially anything you can buy at Lowe’s, 
Home Depot and  Target.”  
“At our intermodal facilities, we do not handle highly  hazardous materials,
” he said.  
International and domestic freight will be shipped in  containers that are 
double-stacked almost 22 feet high on rail cars to serve a  2,500-mile 
supply chain. Norfolk Southern will be straightening curves and  adding signals 
along its routes.  
“A lot of our intermodal trains can be as long as 8,000  feet,” Bennett 
said.  
The railroad aims to deliver containers in 33 hours to its  trucking 
partners. Although Norfolk Southern trains travel at 50 mph, they  frequently slow 
down or stop for passing locomotives, Bennett said.  
“We’re constantly trying to ratchet down that service  metric,” he said of 
delivery times.  
He said Norfolk Southern officials chose Antrim Township,  despite its 
close proximity to the Harrisburg terminal, because they were  looking for ways 
to accommodate the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., markets. The  exit 3 
terminal will be four miles long, although the main pad and parking area  will 
be on 170 acres.  
Two crossings will change when the intermodal facility opens.  Two 
cul-de-sacs will cause Milnor Road to end near the tracks, rather than  allowing 
passenger vehicles to cross there. A bridge will allow traffic to go  over the 
Hykes Road crossing.  
“Part of our traffic mitigation plan will be to add traffic  lights at the 
interchange ramps,” Bennett 
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