UP, NS starting second Los Angeles/Atlanta intermodal service

UP, NS starting second Los Angeles/Atlanta intermodal service Union Pacific Railroad and Norfolk Southern Railway will Feb. 19 launch a second joint intermodal train service between Los Angeles and Atlanta.
   The new service will arrive in the Southeast on the sixth-morning after departure from California. At the same time, the existing 'BlueStreak' intermodal service will speed up with availability in Atlanta becoming fourth-evening instead of fifth-morning.
   The two railroads said they would also increase train capacity between UP's Los Angeles terminals and the Norfolk Southern-served terminals in Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Atlanta and Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; and Miami.
   In addition, UP and NS will begin shifting domestic and international traffic to a new, shorter route over the Shreveport, La., gateway from the third-quarter, beginning with the completion of the first phase of improvements on the Meridian Speedway.
   In establishing this new route, the companies expect to eliminate almost 150 route miles from the current route, and remove freight from the Memphis gateway.
   'These new services and product offerings will offer customers higher quality shipping options in this rapidly growing corridor and build on the premier BlueStreak services that UP and NS have been running for more than five years,' said Don Seale, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for Norfolk Southern.
   Jack Koraleski, UP's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said: 'These new services leverage the significant investments being made along this route by both UP and NS and, ultimately, will result in the shortest, most efficient rail route between Southern California and the Southeast.'