As published in Toledo Business Journal - July 1, 2014
CSX railyard, North Baltimore
CSX invests $42M
in NOIT project
CSX is expanding the Northwest Ohio Intermodal Terminal (NOIT) in North Baltimore, Ohio (completed in February 2011 at a cost of $175 million) due to increased intermodal container traffic through the site. The cost of the expansion is $42 million.
According to Clarence Gooden, chief commercial officer for CSX, international intermodal traffic rose by 6% in CSX’s fourth quarter, and domestic intermodal traffic rose to 13% establishing a quarterly record for the company.
According to joc.com, Gooden went on to note that, “Intermodal revenue increased 10% year-over-year to $437 million in the same period. He expects intermodal business will ‘be the major growth engine’ for the company in 2014, with traffic growth expected to outpace US GDP expansion.”
The expansion
The expansion of the terminal process area at NOIT includes extending eight process tracks and the crane rails by 2,300 linear feet, as well as extensions of the container stacking areas, and installing the mechanical, electrical, lighting, and communications systems for the expansion area.
The project also includes an additional 10,000-foot-long receiving and departing track as well as other additional support tracks. In addition, two wide-span cranes will be added as part of this expansion program.
In 2013, CSX went to the federal government and requested that it help cover roughly half the cost of the overall expansion effort. The railroad, however, didn’t receive funding through the Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Generation Economic Recovery (TIGER) program.
Construction started on the project in March, and the projected date for completion is the end of 2014, or beginning of 2015 by current estimates.
Project management
CSX revealed in late-May that Michael Baker Jr., Inc., a unit of Michael Baker International, an engineering and consulting service, was recently awarded a professional services agreement by the railroad company. The firm will provide construction management and inspection services for the NOIT project. Additionally, Baker will provide engineering review services during the construction phases of projects.
Baker’s Thomas Zagorski, PE, senior vice president and national practice lead for construction services shared, “We are extremely pleased to be selected for this first-time assignment for CSX on such a critical project. We are confident that our construction management experience with intermodal terminal expansion projects will prove to be beneficial to CSX in bringing this project, as well as other projects assigned under this agreement, to successful completion.”
The National Gateway
Sitting on 500 acres in Wood County, the North Baltimore NOIT terminal is the cornerstone of the National Gateway, according to CSX.
The National Gateway is an approximately $850 million, multi-state, public-private infrastructure project which was designed to improve the flow of freight between the Mid-Atlantic and the Midwest by clearing key freight corridors for double-stack rail service.
The North Baltimore facility employs approximately 300 people and manages (by 2013 estimates) more than 30 trains a day. The facility also handles several million containers of freight each year.
The National Gateway, according to CSX, also “delivers more than $1.7 billion of public benefits to Ohio.” Estimates conclude that the utilization of the Gateway results in a two million ton reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, nearly $70 million savings in highway maintenance costs, and $350 million savings in logistics costs for businesses across Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states.
“A double-stack rail route between Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest markets will also free up highway capacity by creating an additional option for transporting freight. Moving freight by rail reduces congestion on our nation’s highways by reducing truck miles traveled by more than 14 billion miles, making highways safer and more efficient,” the company stated.
“In an area where service from east coast ports once took up to a week, it now only takes two to three days for goods to be shipped through the facility and delivered to the customer’s door,” CSX transportation executive vice president and chief operating officer Oscar Munoz noted to Railway Age. “We are very proud of our role in keeping America competitive by investing in infrastructure here in Ohio.”
