Railway makes first run through higher tunnels

September 10, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Norfolk Southern Corp. on Thursday ran its first train loaded with double-stacked cargo containers through some of the most rugged parts of the Appalachian Mountains, opening a $191 million route made possible by an ambitious tunnel-expansion project.

The company raised the heights of 28 tunnels along an old coal route, creating a more direct path for bigger freight trains to travel from an international shipping port in Norfolk, Va., to a transfer terminal in Columbus. The trip is now shorter by 250 miles — and 24 hours.

Norfolk Southern, and eastern rival CSX Corp., want to maximize the amount of consumer goods they can haul on a single train as they compete with the trucking industry to take more freight from the East Coast to the Midwest. They’re also preparing for the 2015 expansion of the Panama Canal, which will make it easier for Asian freight to reach eastern U.S. cities.

Railroads are considered gauges of the nation’s broader economic health because they carry a wide range of goods for consumers and businesses. Thursday’s Norfolk Southern train carried 150 double-stacked containers loaded with such items as televisions, computers and Christmas decorations as it rumbled through the mountains of Virginia, West Virginia and up into the hills of southern Ohio.

Norfolk Southern put up $97.8 million for the three-year project, while the federal government added $83.3 million. Ohio and Virginia chipped in $9.8 million.

“This is a remarkable achievement, and it marks a notable date in transportation history,” Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman said. “Together we have shown what can be accomplished when the right partners work together for the right goals.”

Manufacturers, and ultimately consumers, will save money because double-stacked trains can reduce shipping costs about $500 per cargo container, said James Blaze, who studies rail economics at Zeta-Tech Associates Inc., a transportation consulting firm in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Their use can also take commercial truck traffic off highways, he said. A fully loaded double-stacked train can carry the equivalent load of 280 trucks.

Norfolk Southern declined to release projections for shipping volumes along the new route.