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Yesterday, Norfolk Southern Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, and federal, state and local officials marked the opening of the Birmingham Regional Intermodal Facility in McCalla, Ala.

The $97.5 million terminal will serve as a major gateway for truck-competitive freight moving between the South and Northeast, and enable NS to launch its first-ever intermodal service from Birmingham to the Northeast and Mexico, said Moorman in a prepared statement. The facility is part of NS' Crescent Corridor, a planned high-capacity intermodal route between the Northeast and Gulf Coast.

"There is no other intermodal rail public-private project today that compares with the magnitude of the Crescent Corridor in terms of job creation or environmental benefits," he said. "Today's opening is the result of the efforts of many whose work together will continue as the Crescent Corridor develops."

Intermodal facilities often help attract distribution centers, manufacturing plants and other industries, said Bentley.

"Having Norfolk Southern here will benefit the surrounding region by providing a catalyst for more new jobs," he said.

NS constructed the Birmingham facility's main administrative building according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards. The facility also features the latest gate and terminal automation technology, and state-of-the-art, low-emission cranes and hostler tractors, NS officials said.

The Birmingham terminal is the second of four planned Crescent Corridor facilities to open, following a Memphis facility in Rossville, Tenn., that began operations in July. The Birmingham facility's sister terminal in Greencastle, Pa., is scheduled to open in January 2013 and construction began earlier this year on a new terminal in Charlotte, N.C. In addition, significant expansions of two existing Harrisburg, Pa., intermodal terminals are under way as part of the Crescent Corridor initiative.