New Ohio rail terminal opens

New Ohio rail terminal opens Norfolk Southern Monday opened the Rickenbacker Intermodal Terminal near Columbus, Ohio.
   The railroad said the $68.5 million facility will allow it to significantly expand its intermodal business in central Ohio by providing customers with improved service and increased capacity.
   The terminal is part of the Rickenbacker Global Logistics Park, a large logistics complex.
   Wick Moorman, the railroad’s chief executive officer, said the facility “punctuates Norfolk Southern’s commitment to serve the growing intermodal demands of central Ohio and Midwest shippers. Rickenbacker, one of five Norfolk Southern intermodal terminals in Ohio, will anchor our Heartland Corridor when that project is completed.”
   Elaine Roberts, president and CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, said the terminal has resulted in new industrial development in the Rickenbacker area.
   “We expect 20,000 new jobs over the next 30 years as a direct result of the new intermodal facility,” she said.
   The Rickenbacker Intermodal Terminal in its initial phase occupies about 175 acres and has the capacity to handle more than 250,000 containers and trailers annually.
   Six trains serve the terminal daily, four between Rickenbacker and Chicago and two between Rickenbacker and Norfolk.
   The Heartland Corridor is a three-year railway improvement project scheduled to be completed in 2010 that is expected to significantly increase the speed of containerized freight moving in double-stack trains between the East Coast and the Midwest.
   Currently, double-stack trains must take longer routes by way of Harrisburg, Pa., or Knoxville, Tenn. The Heartland Corridor goes across Virginia, through southern West Virginia and north through Columbus.