(The Associated Press circulated the following on August 19.)
SALEM, Va. — Virginia officials have chosen a rural Montgomery County community for a new Norfolk Southern shipping yard.
The state Department of Rail and Public Transportation announced Tuesday that Elliston was chosen for the $18.6 million intermodal rail yard, after a two-year study. Sites in the city of Salem and Roanoke County also had been considered recently.
Intermodal shipping puts goods in containers that can be transferred among trains, ships and trucks.
State officials say the project will cut shipping time from Virginia’s port to the Midwest by a day and a half. In its first 15 years, it is expected to take 1.9 million trucks off the highways.
The yard will employ about 12 people, but will bring up to 2,900 jobs to the region.