advertisement

---

CSX Corp. officials are thinking "big picture" to establish a new U.S. intermodal corridor. They're also thinking public-private partnership.

Yesterday, the Class I launched the National Gateway, a $700 million public-private initiative aimed at creating a freight transportation link between Mid-Atlantic ports and Midwestern shippers and receivers.

The National Gateway calls for upgrading three existing rail corridors that run through Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia:
• the I-70/I-76 Corridor between Washington, D.C,. and northwest Ohio via Pittsburgh;
• the I-95 Corridor between North Carolina and Baltimore via Washington, D.C.; and
• the Carolina Corridor between Wilmington and Charlotte, N.C.

CSX has committed $300 million to the initiative and plans to work with several states and the federal government to secure additional funding. To establish the National Gateway, CSX would build or expand several intermodal terminals and work with state and federal agencies to create double-stack clearances beneath public overpasses.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland already has pledged to work with state and federal officials to support the gateway, which would include two new intermodal terminals in Ohio built by CSX at a cost of $130 million.

The gateway would expand capacity for freight moving in and out of the Midwest, reduce truck traffic on congested highways and create thousands of jobs, CSX said.

"More and more, the nation is becoming aware of the tremendous safety, economic and environmental benefits that railroads create," said CSX Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward in a prepared statement. "The National Gateway leverages those benefits to the fullest."