NS renames Pennsylvania yard to honor former corporate affairs executive

Yesterday, Norfolk Southern Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman, Pennsylvania Lt. Governor Jim Cawley, State Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, Drexel University President John Fry, and other government and business officials attended a ceremony in Lancaster, Pa., to rename the railroad's Dillerville Yard in honor of the late H. Craig Lewis, a former state senator and NS executive who died unexpectedly earlier this year.

Lewis served as a state senator for five terms from 1975 to 1994 and joined NS as vice president of corporate affairs in 1997. He retired from the Class I in 2009.

"Because of his experience and respect from both sides of the aisle in Harrisburg, Craig was a key part of our integration of Conrail's assets in Pennsylvania in the late 1990s," said Moorman in a press release. "He later led our passenger and transit policy team and managed many complex projects, including the sale of Conrail's Boonton Line to New Jersey Transit and the NS phase of the Lancaster Northwest Gateway Project."

The $75 million Lancaster Northwest Gateway Project calls for remediating and redeveloping about 75 acres of urban brownfields to enhance economic development opportunities in the city of Lancaster, Pa. The project includes an expansion of H. Craig Lewis Yard, which began in early 2009 and is slated for completion next month.

The final segment of the project is scheduled to begin in spring 2014, when NS transfers ownership of about 28 acres of the yard to Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster General Health. The work is expected to take 12 months to complete.