(The Daily Press posted the following Associated Press article on its website on March 25.)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Norfolk Southern Corp. could shave 667 miles off freight travel between Virginia and Ohio if railroad tunnels along the way were enlarged to accommodate double-stacked containers, the Rahall Transportation Institute said.
Most of the 28 tunnels between Norfolk, Va., and Columbus, Ohio, are in West Virginia, but the Mountain State would not benefit as much as the other states from the project, according to a study released Monday by the institute.
The study is part of a long-range effort to assess and improve the region’s freight capabilities.
Enlarging the tunnels, which are not tall enough for double-stacked containers to pass through, would cost between $43 million and $127 million, depending on several options. One option includes construction of a $16 million container handling facility in Wayne County, according to the study.
Currently, double-stacked containers traveling from Norfolk bypass West Virginia and take either a 967-mile route through Knoxville, Tenn., or a 1,038-mile route through Harrisburg, Pa. Those routes add $450 to $650 in shipping costs to each container, the study found.
The study recommends that the federal government pay for most of the project because it would benefit several states.
However, West Virginia would see little benefit unless the Wayne County facility is built. That facility also would benefit eastern Kentucky and southern Ohio.
“I don’t think there would ever be a point where West Virginia would be expected to fund a majority of the project,” said Mark Burton, a Marshall University economist who co-authored the study with David Clarke, a Clemson University engineering professor.
“The key here is that most of the benefits from this, certainly most of the efficiency gains, will accrue to a wide range of customers throughout the country,” Burton said.
He said West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia could share the cost of a detailed engineering study of the tunnels, which he estimated would be $2.5 million to $4.5 million.