(The Associated Press circulated the following on January 11.)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Roofs are being raised on railroad tunnels in southern West Virginia and Virginia to allow more goods to reach the Appalachian Mountains and beyond.
It’s all part of one of the biggest tunnel-expansion project in the country’s history–Norfolk Southern Railway Co.’s $150 million plan to enable double-stacked freight cars to travel directly from the busy port at Norfolk, Va., to Chicago.
The tunnel expansions along the Heartland Corridor should shave a half-day and more than 200 miles off the current trip, and help ease highway congestion.
Norfolk Southern plans to raise the vertical clearance of 28 tunnels between Norfolk and Chicago to provide a minimum clearance of just under 21 feet.
Workers will lower the track in some tunnels, notch corners into the arched roofs of others and dig out the roofs of still others. A 174-foot tunnel near Welch will have its roof blown off in a process called daylighting.
Crews started work this month on three tunnels near Eggleston and Pembroke in Virginia and eight tunnels between Antler and Gordon in West Virginia.
Three months ago they began grinding away brick, concrete and solid rock on a tunnel near Cowan, Va.
The railroad hopes to have double-stacked railcars moving goods by 2010.
The federal government is paying $95 million of the cost. Norfolk Southern is spending $46 million and the governments in West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio are kicking in the remaining $9 million.
Another $100 million is dedicated to building shipping terminals along the route in Prichard, as well as in Roanoke, Va., and at a military base south of Columbus, Ohio.
An economic impact study conducted by Global Insight for the state of West Virginia suggests the Prichard terminal alone could create up to 1,000 jobs and generate about $12 million in annual savings for shippers into and out of the state.
The study also suggests a $30 million investment in the terminal would generate a statewide benefit of $47 million to $69 million by 2025.
State Sen. Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, suggests the economic boost could be even greater. Spinoff development such as distribution centers for big box stores could eventually boost the number of new jobs to 2,000, including drivers and warehouse workers earning between $18 and $22 an hour.