(The following story by Ivey DeJesus appeared on the Patriot-News website on April 22, 2010.)
HARRISBURG, Pa. — For years, when an out- of-town Norfolk Southern Corp. engineer or conductor finished a long shift at the Enola yard, he went to the on-site dormitories that railroad crews affectionately called the bunk room — a curtained cubicle — to get the 10 hours mandatory rest before the next shift.
Short stays at nearby motels succeeded that arrangement.
On Wednesday, rail system representatives helped cut the ribbon on a new 70-room hotel in Lower Allen Twp. that will cater exclusively to Norfolk Southern conductors, engineers and other employees. The hotel is owned and managed by MSI Hospitality Solutions of Little Rock, Ark.
With queen-size beds, flat-screen TVs, a workout room and Tracks End, a 24-hour restaurant, the hotel will serve as home away from home for rail crews, which routinely travel thousands of miles hauling auto parts, coal, fertilizer and other freight to the midstate and beyond.
“It’s a long way from the bunk room in Enola,” said Fred Cox, local chairman of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.
For an industry emerging out of a slump that saw layoffs and furloughs across the country, the new digs signal more evidence that business is up for the freight-rail industry.
“I don’t know whether the economy is making a comeback, but as far as moving freight by rail, the trend since January is that it’s been incrementally growing,” said Charlie Rickman, a senior director with Norfolk Southern.
The fourth-largest freight railroad in North America, Norfolk Southern, like other freight rail companies, has had to calibrate business with the hard-hit auto industry. But with a gas-drilling boom poised to play out in Pennsylvania’s northern tier, the railroad company is counting on a healthy boost to business.
“We expect business to increase,” Rickman said.
In anticipation of booming business out of Marcellus Shale, freight-rail systems across the region have launched improvements to outdated infrastructure.