(The following appeared on the Boston Globe website on February 14, 2011.)
BOSTON, Mass. — At a cost of $100 million, CSX will expand its 58-acre freight yard in Worcester, Mass., to 79 acres, making it roughly the same size as the Beacon Park yard. The new yard is scheduled for completion next year, and the railroad plans to close its yard in Allston, Mass.
After the expansion, CSX expects the new terminal to be able to handle Worcester’s current annual traffic of 108,000 containers plus the approximately 32,000 containers that stop in Allston every year, along with as many as 60,000 additional containers in future years.
The trick? Air space.
In the revamped CSX terminal, 22-foot-high cranes will move cargo containers between freight trains and tractor-trailer trucks, a system that requires a smaller footprint than the forklift-like side loaders that workers drive to move containers at Beacon Park, CSX engineers said. The side loaders need room to maneuver around the trains and trucks, while most of the space occupied by the overhead crane is above the train.
The full story appears on the Boston Globe website.