Work starts on key Crescent Corridor terminal
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefNorfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley participated Monday in the official groundbreaking ceremony for the new, $97.5 million Birmingham Regional Intermodal Facility in McCalla, Ala., part of the railroad’s Crescent Corridor initiative to build a high-capacity intermodal freight rail route between the Gulf Coast and the Northeast.
Scheduled to open in late 2012, the facility will occupy a 316-acre site adjacent to the Jefferson Metropolitan Park. It has a targeted capacity of 165,000 containers and trailers annually.
“The Birmingham Regional Intermodal Facility is ideally located to serve the Southeast and is a critical component of our Crescent Corridor,” said Moorman. “We thank Secretary LaHood and USDOT for their efforts to form public-private partnerships to create jobs and economic development opportunities.”
“The Birmingham Regional Intermodal Facility will bring significant economic growth to McCalla and thousands of jobs to Alabamians,” said Gov. Bentley at the ceremony.
Norfolk Southern describes the Crescent Corridor as a “program of independent projects and improvements geared toward creating a 2,500-mile intermodal route spanning from New Jersey to Louisiana that touches 26% of the nation’s population and 30% of the nation’s manufacturing output.” The cost is estimated at $2.5 billion for full development.
