(CSX issued the following news release on September 10.)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX Transportation, a business unit of CSX Corporation (NYSE: CSX – News), today announced the first phase of a strategic development initiative to the Fulton Industrial Business District in metropolitan Atlanta that will ultimately make the area a foremost industrial transportation hub for the Southeast.
Beginning this month, CSX will spend nearly a million dollars over eight weeks to strengthen existing infrastructure in the Business District. The improvements include 7,000 new cross ties, 1,700 new switch ties, and several new track panels and turnouts, resulting in more reliable service and customer switching. In addition, improvements to the rail yard and storage tracks will allow for increased capacity and improved operating maneuverability.
“This is just another example of not only CSX’s commitment to Atlanta and its logistics community, but to the entire Southeast,” said Chip Davis, CSXT Southeast regional sales director. “Our investment is an important step in helping Atlanta achieve its goal of becoming a leading transportation hub.”
This project is a first step toward developing the Fulton Business District into a high growth rail-centric transportation center. Fulton Industrial is home to more than 40 existing business partners that move everything from food products and metals to paper and packaging products from five regions of the country. Shippers from the West Coast, Pacific Northwest, Canada, Ohio Valley and Southeast move more than 8,000 cars, or the equivalent of 30,000 trucks, annually through warehouses and light manufacturing facilities in the Business District to end users in Atlanta and the surrounding areas.
The next phase of improvements, slated for the first half of 2004, will include more frequent and custom-designed switching services, along with joint commercial and development efforts between CSX and Fulton Business District partners.
CSX Corporation, based in Jacksonville, Fla., owns the largest rail network in the eastern United States. CSXT and its 34,000 employees provide rail transportation services over a 23,000 route-mile network in 23 states, the District of Columbia and two Canadian provinces. CSX Corporation also provides intermodal and global container terminal operations through other subsidiaries.