PANYNJ's Southbound Connector project to boost intermodal efficiency, port official says
5/16/2023
By Grace Renderman, Associate Editor
The Port of New York and New Jersey is in the midst of planning the $6.6 million Southbound Connector project, which calls for an additional track to be added to the port's ExpressRail network at the Elizabeth terminal.
Now in the final design phase, the project will help facilitate faster intermodal rail connections at the terminal. At buildout, the connection will increase the terminal’s annual capacity by 75%, from 800,000 to more than 1.4 million containers, says Tyrone Harrison, PANYNJ's manager of intermodal rail development. The project also will significantly reduce congestion by allowing trains to arrive and depart simultaneously in both northern and southern directions.
"Right now, trains that depart have to go north, and then go up to a control point … to get switched," Harrison says. "Once [the Southbound Connector] is complete, this will allow trains to directly leave north as it does now in the south."
The state of New Jersey awarded a $6 million grant to PANYNJ in late March under the Rail Freight Assistance Program.
Construction is scheduled to begin in fourth-quarter 2024 — following some delays in the planning process that originally aimed for a 2023 start — and wrap up in 2025.
"By increasing the capacity and throughput, we could possibly entertain the idea of [adding] up to six trains a day," Harrison adds.
Today, the track supports eight daily trains — three inbound and five outbound.
The ExpressRail Elizabeth facility is operated by Millennium Marine Rail, which provides daily on-dock double-stack container service to ocean carriers via CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway. The facility currently features 18 tracks with more than 44,000 feet of track.
The port is working on the project with its Class I partners and Conrail, the latter of which has supported design concepts for the Southbound Connector that will join up with the regional railroad's Garden State secondary track, according to North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority documents. There, the new track will improve efficiency at Port Newark Yard and enable trains to depart south from the terminal.
Additionally, the project will help the port weather the volatility of the intermodal market, Harrison says.
"If we learned anything the past couple years, the biggest challenge is just the uncertainty as far as where the market's going ... and making sure we're in a position to handle whatever comes our way," he says.
The $600 million ExpressRail system — which includes the Elizabeth facility and three other terminals in Newark, Staten Island and Port Jersey — opened in 1991 to support efficient rail movements between container terminals. The Elizabeth facility serves six marine terminals, the most customers among all the ExpressRail facilities.
