Norfolk Southern announced plans to reopen its intermodal facility in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, creating capacity to support economic growth and help ease supply-chain congestion that has slowed the flow of commerce across all modes of the U.S. transportation sector.
Effective Sept. 10, the railroad plans a gradual phase-in of business at the Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility, starting with a lane of domestic intermodal traffic that currently moves between Norfolk Southern intermodal facilities in Memphis and Rutherford, in South Central Pennsylvania. Greencastle will provide additional terminal capacity and help to improve service as demand for the railroad’s robust franchise continues to grow.
Norfolk Southern opened the Greencastle facility in January 2013 as part of its Crescent Corridor initiative, a public-private partnership designed to convert freight from highway to rail to ease congested roadways and reduce carbon emissions while creating opportunities for jobs and economic development. Under the initiative, the railroad also constructed intermodal terminals in Birmingham, Charlotte, and Memphis as part of a 2,500-mile rail corridor from the Gulf Coast to the Northeast. The company idled the Greencastle terminal in 2019 for business reasons, while leaving open the possibility of resuming operations if market conditions changed.
A combination of factors, including a rapid rise in e-commerce, strong market demand, and pandemic-driven supply chain changes, figured into the decision to reopen Greencastle. The added capacity at Greencastle is expected to reduce terminal congestion and improve network fluidity across Pennsylvania.
The Greencastle terminal has the capacity for an estimated 100,000 shipping container lifts annually. A lift occurs every time a container is lifted onto or off of a rail car. The first phase of traffic at Greencastle is expected to generate around 50,000 lifts.
-via Press Release