NS launches industrial site search engine

Norfolk Southern Railway has launched NSites, a GIS-based search engine to help businesses find rail-served industrial sites and transload facilities.

The online portal provides comprehensive information about industrial sites near NS's transportation infrastructure, encouraging investment and job creation, NS officials said in a press release.

The Class I’s network connects customers to every major container port in the eastern United States and reaches a majority of the country’s population and manufacturing base, they added.

The search tool includes more than 800 available industrial locations across the railroad’s 22-state territory, all verified as rail accessible by NS or one of its short-line partners. Additionally, users can find nearly 250 rail-to-truck transload facilities in key markets across the eastern United States.

Similar to online residential real-estate sites that let users search for homes based on their criteria, NSites enables a customized search of properties. By using targeted filters, companies can sift through results based on acreage, location, existing warehousing, and proximity to highways, intermodal terminals and port facilities.

"We developed NSites with the user in mind, to empower current and future customers during site selection decisions," said Ed Elkins, executive vice president and chief marketing officer. "Before NSites, there was no single destination to help large manufacturers, site-selection professionals and developers identify and compare rail-served industrial sites that offer the exact site characteristics they need."