U.S. Intermodal Map Shifting East, Norfolk Southern Railway Begins Double-Stack Service on Heartland Corridor

Norfolk Southern Railway will open its Heartland Corridor intermodal corridor this week, capping an effort years in the making to cut a new path through the rugged Appalachian Mountains that supporters of freight rail transport believe will change the landscape of shipping in eastern United States and expand efforts to push highway freight onto rails.

The bold effort to accommodate double-stack train height is Norfolk Southern's last step in a set of construction projects totaling $321 million. Investments and upgrades moving forward the Heartland route – a diagonal line from Virginia ports to Midwest retail – will, however, provide efficiencies for the network overall and support national transportation goals of reducing highway congestion and emissions and making the U.S. freight supply chain more competitive for global trade.

"We are faced with serious infrastructure challenges in moving cargo within and through out the country," said Joni Casey, president and CEO of the Intermodal Association of North America. "The Heartland Corridor and similar projects are excellent examples of flexible, market-oriented partnerships between the private and public sectors."

Combined with rival CSX Transportation's National Gateway corridor, and Norfolk Southern's own Crescent Corridor – arcing from the Mississippi Delta to New York – and its partnerships with Kansas City Southern Railway and Union Pacific Railway that provide cross-country links, East Coast rail is rising above competition. The breadth of this new map, and its links to the expected Panama Canal cargo increase, are becoming game changers in the contest for freight from all corners.

In this week's Cover Story, The Journal of Commerce analyzes the massive changes occurring in the new intermodal corridors and what Norfolk Southern's landmark infrastructure project will mean for supply chains in the critical Midwest market.

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