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Norfolk Southern opened a new terminal in south central Pennsylvania yesterday. The Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility is located on 200 acres south of Greencastle, Pa., and less than a mile from Interstate 81.

The terminal is part of the Class I's Crescent Corridor, a planned high-capacity intermodal route between the Northeast and Gulf Coast. It will connect central Pennsylvania, western Maryland and northern Virginia to domestic and world markets, serving as a major gateway for freight in the Mid-Atlantic region.

NS constructed the facility's administrative building to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification standards. The Class I also is incorporating low-emission cranes and hostler tractors, as well as the latest gate and terminal automation, according to a press release.

The $97 million project was funded through $52 million from NS and $45 million from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The facility, combined with other NS terminals in Pennsylvania, will help divert as many as 800,000 long-haul trucks off roadways and onto trains by 2020, NS officials predict.

The terminal is the third Crescent Corridor intermodal facility NS has opened in the past six months, joining terminals in Birmingham, Ala., and Memphis, Tenn. Construction on a fourth Crescent Corridor intermodal terminal is under way in Charlotte, N.C.