USA: The ‘on-time, on-budget’ completion of Phase One of the National Gateway programme was announced on September 5, enabling double-stack intermodal services to be operated between the CSX terminals in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and North Baltimore, Ohio.
Enlarging bridges and tunnels to accommodate double-stack trains between the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest, the $850m public-private National Gateway programme is expected to create 50 000 jobs over 30 years, and deliver benefits including reduced fuel consumption, lower emissions and reduced freight costs. Public funding for Phase One included a grant from the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery programme, secured by the State of Ohio.
‘Today, we celebrate the efforts of federal and state officials in achieving this milestone, which means more jobs, a more competitive America, and a more environmentally-friendly way to move freight,’ said CSX Chairman, President & CEO Michael J Ward. ‘Working with our public-sector partners, we need to finish the job and complete double-stack clearances between Chambersburg and the ports of Baltimore and Virginia’.
TIGER grant funding is also to be sought to meet half of the $42m cost of increasing capacity at the CSX terminal at North Baltimore, where eight additional tracks and two new cranes would be installed. The remainder of the funding would be provided by CSX itself.
