(The following story appeared on The Herald-Dispatch website on July 25.)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — WHAT IS IT? The Heartland Corridor project involves improvements in railways between the Virginia coast and Columbus, Ohio, so that trains can carry more goods. Twenty-eight tunnels will be raised so that trains can carry double-stacked containers. The public-private partnership also will include construction of three intermodal facilities for easier transfer of containers between rail, roadways, rivers and airways. One is planned for nearby Prichard, while two others are planned for Roanoke, Va., and Columbus.
WHO BENEFITS? Officials hope it creates a quicker route for businesses that need to ship, cutting about 200 miles from the route they travel now. It also would mean more goods moving by rail rather than highways, decreasing congestion on the highways, as well as air pollution.
An economic impact study (conducted by Global Insight on West Virginia’s portion of the Heartland Corridor) suggested that the Prichard facility could create 700 to 1,000 jobs in West Virginia and eventually bring about $12 million in annual savings for shippers into and out of West Virginia, said Patrick Donovan, director of the West Virginia Public Port Authority. He thinks Ohio and Kentucky will see benefits as well.
WHO’S INVOLVED? It’s a public-private partnership between Norfolk Southern and federal, state and local government agencies.
WHO’S PAYING? Senate Bill 569, approved by the General Assembly in 2007, provides $4.3 million per fiscal year through 2016. This first fiscal year, $2.15 million was allotted, but the following years, the full $4.3 million will be provided. Norfolk Southern has already put $49.5 million of its own money into the tunnel clearance project, with a $90 million match in federal funds. The tunnel clearance project is estimated at $151 million, Norfolk Southern says.
Norfolk Southern has donated 78 acres to the West Virginia Public Port Authority for the intermodal facility at Prichard, and the authority already has 20-plus acres.
WHAT’S BEEN DONE? Three of four tunnel-raising projects in Virginia already are completed, and work has begun on eight of the 23 tunnels that need to be raised in West Virginia. There’s one more tunnel to be raised in Kentucky.
WHAT’S NEXT? The West Virginia Port Authority hasn’t yet determined if the land already in hand at Prichard will be sufficient for the intermodal facility, which would sit between the river and the train tracks.
An environmental impact study, to be discussed by the Port Authority at its August meeting, is expected to address that. The Port Authority’s next meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 6, in Charleston. It will be in Room 122 of Building 5, the Department of Transportation, in the Capitol Complex.
Officials hope to have the entire project finished in 2010.