(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on November 17, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Pennsylvania’s governor joined with Philadelphia’s mayor and the chairman, president and CEO of eastern-U.S. rail giant CSX Transportation to show how changing the clearances of 16 bridges can expand the city’s role as an intermodal hub.
The construction is aimed at clearing away bottlenecks so the carrier can run doublestack container trains in and out of Philadelphia, thereby giving it a more efficient rail connection with the Midwest, CSX said.
Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter and CSX’s Michael Ward went to one of the bridge construction sites and touted a $32 million project they said will create hundreds of jobs and aid future economic growth for the region.
CSX said it is spending over $12 million on the work, while the state kicks in $10 million and two federal agencies combine for the other $10 million.
Rendell said “this environmentally friendly, cost-effective double-stack improvement project . . . will provide long-term economic benefits for Pennsylvania and the nation.”
CSX is trying to boost its intermodal business by improving existing rail corridors, which include old structures such as bridges that were built before intermodal trains became a major force in the economy.
Numerous bridges and tunnels in the eastern United States were designed for trains of a traditional height, and many cannot accommodate two-high container trains without modification.
CSX is developing a multi-state National Gateway corridor that would run stack trains to take many more box shipments away from trucks and off highways. It runs north-south for much of the mid-Atlantic zone and east-west to link up with Ohio’s commercial routes.
Rival Norfolk Southern is also building corridors, like CSX with considerable public funding. Those include the Heartland Corridor to tie Virginia ports to Midwest destinations, due for 2010 completion, and a more recent Crescent Corridor plan linking the Mississippi Delta with major Northeast consumer centers.