NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk Southern has launched a new Web site focusing on the benefits of its corridor and public-private partnership projects.
The Web site, TheFutureNeedsUs.com, describes projects to increase rail freight transportation capacity and improve mobility and the environment. Information is provided for projects in Alabama, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, where governors Riley, Barbour, Rendell, Bredesen, Kaine, and Manchin are leaders in supporting transportation solutions.
The site outlines how upgrading the Crescent Corridor — the existing 2,500-mile rail route from the Southeast to the Northeast — will support a stronger economy, less highway congestion, cleaner air, and fuel savings.
The Crescent Corridor will be among the largest additions of new freight transportation capacity since the Interstate Highway System. That means creating or benefiting some 47,000 green jobs and producing these estimated annual benefits:
— $326 million in tax revenues to states and communities
— 1.3 million long-haul trucks diverted from interstates
— $146 million in accident avoidance savings
— 1.9 million tons in CO2 reduction
— $575 million in congestion savings
— $92 million in highway maintenance savings
— 169 million gallons in fuel savings
Crescent Corridor components include new intermodal facilities at Memphis, Birmingham, and Franklin County, Pa., and the expansion of terminals in Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Other projects include straightening curves; adding passing tracks, double tracks, and signals; and running more efficient trains.
TheFutureNeedsUs.com provides detailed information about other Norfolk Southern corridor projects, as well. This includes the Heartland Corridor to open a new gateway for double-stacked container traffic from the East Coast to the Midwest; the MidAmerica Corridor to create shorter and faster routes for merchandise moving between the Midwest and Southeast; and the Pan Am Southern Corridor to create an improved rail route between Albany, N.Y., and the greater Boston area.
The site includes photos, videos, maps, fact sheets, links, contacts, and a convenient form for contacting Norfolk Southern.
