Norfolk Southern Corp. and Delaware River Port Authority recently agreed to build a high-tech yard at the site of a former Philadelphia naval base.
The port authority would finance the $16 million project and be repaid by NS over 20 years.
The facility would be adjacent to the CSX Transportation's Greenwich yard and the port authority's Ameriport yard — which is used by Canadian Pacific Railway — providing Philadelphia's port competing service from three Class Is.
NS initially plans to handle truck/rail container transfers at the yard — which would occupy 136 acres at the east end of the former Navy base, now called Philadelphia Naval Business Center — and might expand the facility in the future to handle automobiles or other commodities.
Construction on the yard, which was first proposed in 1997 and delayed many times since, is expected to begin in summer.
Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News
