Norfolk Southern's Electric Loco

Batteries ARE Included: Norfolk Southern Unveils Experimental Electric Locomotive

"NS 999 is an entirely electric locomotive that uses a lead-acid energy storage system comprised of 1,080 12-volt batteries to operate in railroad switching applications without the use of a diesel engine and with zero exhaust emissions. The plug-in locomotive also can regenerate dynamic braking energy through a system provided by Brookville Equipment Company. The recovered dynamic braking energy continually replenishes the energy storage system, and uses this recovered energy for tractive effort in rail operations. The batteries are carefully monitored and controlled through an elaborate battery management system to assure safety and maximum battery life, and when fully charged NS 999 is able to operate three shifts before recharging is required."

Crescent Corridor Rolls On

Image via Wikipedia

Norfolk Southern Selects Fayette County Site for New Memphis Regional Intermodal Terminal, Supporting Crescent Corridor Initiative

"NORFOLK, Va., July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Norfolk Southern announced today that it will construct a new intermodal terminal in Rossville, Tenn., in Fayette County, to serve the Memphis region, as part of the railroad's Crescent Corridor initiative to establish a high-speed intermodal rail route between the Mid-South and Gulf Coast and the Northeast. The $129 million facility, in which freight is transferred between truck and rail, will occupy a 570-acre site and is expected to open in January 2012.

"Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor initiative is a multistate network of infrastructure improvements and other facilities intended to enhance Norfolk Southern's 2,500-mile rail network that supports the supply chain from the Gulf Coast, Birmingham and Memphis to Philadelphia and the New York metropolitan area and enable it to handle more freight traffic faster and more reliably. The railroad is in the process of implementing Corridor projects, including straightening curves, adding passing tracks, improving signal systems, and building new terminals."

Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern Receive Approval to Improve Rail Service In New York and New England

Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern Receive Approval to Improve Rail Service In New York and New England:

"On May 15, 2008, PAR and NS announced an agreement to improve freight rail service and increase track and yard capacity in upstate New York and New England through a newly formed railroad company, Pan Am Southern. The focus of Pan Am Southern is the Patriot Corridor, the 155-mile main line track that runs between Mechanicville (Albany), N.Y., and Ayer, Mass. (approximately 30 miles west of Boston). PAR will transfer to the joint venture this trackage, along with 281 miles of secondary and branch lines, including trackage rights, in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. NS will transfer cash and other property valued at $137.5 million to the joint venture, $87.5 million of which will be invested within a three-year period in capital improvements on the Patriot Corridor. Included in this investment is a new intermodal and automotive terminal in Saratoga County, N.Y., a new automotive terminal in Ayer, expansion of the existing intermodal terminal in Ayer, as well as track and signal upgrades on the Patriot Corridor. These improvements will be implemented as expeditiously as possible, and will comply with certain conditions imposed as part of the Federal regulatory approval process."