CSX, NC Ports commence Queen City Express intermodal service

The new intermodal rail service will feature double-stacked trains and will operate daily between the Port of Wilmington and Charlotte beginning July 28, said NC Ports.    North Carolina Ports and Jacksonville, Fla.-based Class I railroad CSX will commence an intermodal service between the Port of Wilmington and Charlotte starting next week.
   Called the Queen City Express, the service will feature double-stacked trains and will operate daily. The rail service will call the Charlotte Intermodal Terminal, owned by NC Ports, and provide “connectivity for each and every container service currently calling on the Port of Wilmington,” NC Ports said in a statement.
   “This service, dovetailed with the investment that CSX is making in Rocky Mount, is a testament to our dedication to the State of North Carolina and North Carolina Ports,” said Dean Piacente, vice president of CSX Intermodal. “In addition to the connection to Charlotte, CSX will also provide future access to a transformational, state-of-the-art intermodal rail terminal in Eastern North Carolina – the Carolina Connector.”
   The Carolina Connector (CCX), a key transportation hub in Rocky Mount, will work with the Queen City Express to lowers transportation costs and take trucks off the road. CSX announced the construction of the $270 million intermodal rail hub in Rocky Mount, N.C. last year amid opposition in Johnston County, where the hub would be constructed. NC ports, however, notes that it is “a direct beneficiary of both rail announcements and represent[s] a commitment to improve upon its operational efficiencies, to keep cargo moving and to remain congestion free.”