By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor 

After waiting a couple of years longer than expected, the Alabama Port Authority (APA) and CSX have finally broken ground for an intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) in Montgomery. 

The more than $80 million, state-of-the-art facility is designed to provide seamless rail and truck connectivity between central Alabama and the Port of Mobile to enhance freight mobility and stimulate economic growth throughout the region. 

A groundbreaking ceremony for the ICTF — which will be served by CSX — was held Feb. 27. During the event, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, APA Director John Driscoll, CSX Vice President of Business Development and Real Estate Christina Bottomley, and other local officials and dignitaries touted the ICTF’s advantages and benefits. Progressive Railroading recently named Bottomley one of 50 Women of Influence in Rail, who are honored for making a meaningful impact on the rail industry. 

To be located near Interstate 85 and Highway 31, the 272-acre ICTF will feature more than 25,000 feet of track and handle an initial capacity of 60,000 containers annually. CSX manages a 144-acre Montgomery Inland Logistics Select Site in the city to provide access to key markets and offer seamless logistics solutions. 

Intermodal cargo accounts for about one-third of CSX’s inbound or outbound traffic in Alabama. CSX

The ICTF plans involve constructing two 3,500-linear-feet process tracks, one 3,500-linear-foot support track, a maintenance building and an administration building. Container stacking areas also will be created adjacent to the process tracks. In addition, 10,000 linear feet of lead track will be constructed parallel to an existing CSX mainline to provide rail access into the ICTF. 

CSX and the APA — which was established in 1928 and oversees the state’s only deepwater port — initially unveiled plans for the ICTF in January 2022. The facility is needed to extend intermodal rail service from the authority’s intermodal terminal at the Port of Mobile to support regional growth in the manufacturing, retail, distribution and agribusiness sectors, APA and CSX officials believe. 

The ICTF will prompt the re-establishment of regularly scheduled CSX intermodal service at the Mobile port and enable intermodal services to be expanded further inland. 

When they announced the project, APA and CSX officials expected the facility to open in two or three years. But now, they anticipate the facility to be operational in 2027, said APA Vice President of Communications and Federal Affairs Maggie Oliver in an email. 

“We thought it would be operational this year when we first announced the project in 2022,” she said.  

Some regulations and processes required by the Federal Railroad Administration have delayed the project by two years, Oliver explained. 

But now it’s full speed ahead. The ICTF is funded by federal and state dollars, and a financial contribution from CSX. 

After it opens, the facility is expected to operate five days a week, offering express daily service from the Mobile port to the automotive and manufacturing hub in Montgomery. The ICTF will help relieve stress on the interstate system as the port boosts cargo volume in the coming years, ASPA officials say. 

An ICTF near the Port of Mobile is operated by APM Terminals Mobile and served by APA’s Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks. Alabama Port Authority

Although the facility won’t open for a few years, it already is drawing attention and investments from potential shippers. Since the ICTF was announced three years ago, the area surrounding the facility has attracted over $3 billion worth of economic development projects from private companies. The projects involve distribution centers, warehouses and other freight-handling facilities. 

The APA and CSX also are developing an ICTF in Decatur in north Alabama. The project calls for redeveloping a portion of an existing CSX facility. Development work continues on the project and there is no firm construction timeline set, said Oliver. 

“As currently planned, it would be [built] within the CSX Oakworth Yard in Decatur,” she said. “The yard needs some modifications to function as an ICTF, and we are still working on engineering/design and funding to facilitate that.” 

The ICTF helps demonstrate CSX’s commitment to fostering growth, connecting markets and propelling economic development in the region, CSX Vice President of Intermodal an Autos Maryclare Kenney said when the north Alabama project was unveiled in February 2024. 

“The facility’s strategic location improves multimodal flexibility throughout the state and creates sustainable, dynamic, rail-to-truck transportation solutions for our customers,” she said. 

The Decatur facility will be positioned to complete rail connectivity from the ICTF at the Mobile port to customers in the central and northern parts of Alabama. The port currently is adjacent to an ICTF that’s operated by APM Terminals Mobile and served by Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks, the APA’s short line, which interchanges with five Class Is. 

The ICTFs in Decatur, Montgomery and Mobile are part of a major expansion effort by the APA, which serves all 67 counties in the state. In late 2024, the authority launched the fourth phase of a container terminal expansion project aimed at doubling the Mobile port’s annual capacity from 500,000 to over 1 million 20-foot equivalent units. The phase includes an inter-terminal connector bridge to create on-dock rail access at the container terminal. 

The port has managed the fastest-growing container terminal in the United States over the past six years and has access to five Class Is, four short lines and nearly 15,000 miles of inland waterways. A channel deepening and widening project that’s scheduled for completion in 2025 will transform the port into the deepest seaport in the Gulf of Mexico, with a 50-foot depth. 

In addition to the terminal expansion and harbor deepening projects, the APA plans to develop logistics facilities in Mobile.