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The Crescent Corridor is a railroad corridor operated by the Norfolk Southern Railway (NS). The project, first proposed in 2007, and scheduled for completion by 2020, spans 13 states from New York to Louisiana. It is a private-public partnership between Norfolk Southern and the various state and federal governments.
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Project overview
Norfolk Southern plans that the project will expand its entire network from the Northeast to the Southeast regions. It is expected that the majority of cargo along the corridor would be intermodal. Norfolk Southern projects the removal of 1.3 million long-haul trucks annually from interstate highways, thereby reducing traffic congestion and helping the environment.
The corridor is 1,400 miles (2,300 km) long and 28 new trains daily would be expected to go into service along with improvements to rail yards along the corridor. NS has proposed sharing the costs with federal and state agencies in a public-private partnership. The overall project cost estimate is $2.5 billion as of 2009. NS plans to expand and upgrade existing rail lines along the corridor to accommodate fast freight trains and also purchase new locomotives and freight cars, and build new terminals.
Intermodal facilities
Norfolk Southern opened new terminal facilities for Charlotte, North Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama and Greencastle, Pennsylvania. It also upgraded terminals in Harrisburg and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Norfolk Southern will expand Croxton Yard in New Jersey.
Project status
Construction on the project began in northern Virginia in 2008. The Charlotte terminal is under construction.
The first phase of the project is due to be completed in 2016.