|
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Railroads are expanding at a record clip
The Virginian Pilot (Norfolk)
America's railroads are back to laying track.
For decades, freight railroads tore up or sold stretches of rail as they lost cargo to trucking companies. But that downsizing has reversed itself in the past few years. Freight has flowed back to railroads amid the confluence of congested highways, a truck driver shortage and high fuel costs - problems not expected to fade away anytime soon.
Railroads, including Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern Corp., have been scrambling to accommodate all the freight on their pared-down networks.
********
Norfolk Southern, the nation's fourth-largest railroad, has company in asking for public help - even for local projects. CSX Corp.'s National Gateway, a $700 million project, would clear the way for double-stacked container trains to move to the Midwest from the ports of Hampton Roads, Baltimore and Wilmington, N.C. The project is in its preliminary stages, said Gary Sease, a spokesman for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad. READ MORE
ABOUT THE NORTH CAROLINA STATE PORTS AUTHORITY:
North Carolina's Ports in Wilmington and Morehead City, plus inland terminals in Charlotte and the Piedmont Triad in Greensboro, link the State's consumers, businesses and industry to world markets, and serve as magnets to attract new business and industry while receiving no direct taxpayer subsidy. Port activities contribute statewide to 65,000 jobs and $500 million each year in state and local tax revenues.
Top trading partners are China, India, Brazil, So. Korea, Belgium, Taiwan, Mexico, Colombia, Great Britain and Venezuela.
Primary exports are phosphate, forest products, woodpulp, general merchandise, food products, wood chips and military.
Top imports are sulfur products, chemicals, grains, rubber, scrap metal, cement, metal products, machinery parts, ore, mica and schist.
INFORMATION:
Shannon Moody, Director of Communications (910) 343-6482 Email
|
