(The following story by Eric Anderson appeared on the Albany Times-Union website on July 8.)
MECHANICVILLE — State Sen. Joseph L. Bruno and local officials will gather this morning to announce plans to build a new intermodal railyard that will be used by Norfolk Southern Railway.
It’s the first economic development announcement Bruno has made since he relinquished the Senate majority leader’s post last month.
The yard is expected to help Norfolk Southern compete against CSX Transportation and give the Virginia-based freight carrier a physical presence in the Capital Region. Until now, Norfolk Southern trains here have operated on tracks owned by other rail lines.
This morning’s announcement follows one in May that Norfolk Southern would pay $140 million for a 50 percent stake in the rail line owned by Pan Am Railways that links Mechanicville with Ayer, Mass., outside Boston. Norfolk Southern said the line would be owned by a newly created company, Pan Am Southern LLC.
Pan Am Railways is the former Guilford Transportation, which operates what was once known as the Boston & Maine Railroad.
The rail line will undergo $87.5 million in improvements, including new track and signals. Norfolk Southern first mentioned plans for new Albany-area intermodal and automotive handling yards in the purchase announcement, and has repeated those plans in filings with the federal Surface Transportation Board.
Mechanicville and neighboring Halfmoon were once the site of extensive railyards operated by the Boston & Maine Railroad, where it connected with the Delaware & Hudson Railway. But by the 1980s, those yards were gone, and some of the land had been sold.
The Boston & Maine name hasn’t been retired completely: It appears in seven deed transactions recently filed with the county clerk’s office that show Boston & Maine paying Saratoga County more than $360,000 for property.
The new yards will allow Norfolk Southern to compete directly with CSX Transportation for shipment of new automobiles and for intermodal traffic, carrying truck trailers on flatcars.
That business has been growing, thanks to the cost of diesel fuel, which has climbed to more than $5 a gallon from $2.97 a year ago in the Capital Region, according to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report.
The new intermodal yard also could serve distribution centers in Saratoga County, economic development officials have said.