The expansion is part of Norfolk Southern's multi-state Crescent Corridor initiative to establish a high-speed intermodal freight rail route between the Gulf Coast and the Northeast.
The proposed investment - $6 million from Norfolk Southern and $5 million from Pennsylvania - will create the capacity to handle more than 72,000 containers and trailers a year.
Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2010.
Norfolk Southern's Crescent Corridor initiative is a multi-state 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.
According to the railroad's CEO Wick Moorman, the Philadelphia Navy Yard intermodal facility's strategic location to Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey and Delaware makes its expansion critical to the success of the Crescent Corridor.
Altogether, nearly $2.5 billion in Crescent Corridor projects have been identified. If and when the Crescent Corridor initiative is fully implemented, it is anticipated that more than one million truckloads of freight a year will shift from road to rail.
