$2 billion rail corridor proposal plans from Norfolk Southern

The fourth largest railroad firm in the US, Norfolk Southern Corp., has announced plans for a $2bn rail corridor. The corridor will run from Louisiana to New Jersey in order to attract cargo being moved by lorries on US highways.

The planned I-81 Crescent Corridor project is intended to quicken cargo shipments whilst cutting traffic congestion in western Virginia, the Norfolk-based railroad said. The plan involves the upgrade and expansion of incumbant rail tracks to accommodate faster train services; purchasing new railcars and building new terminals in Maryland and Tennessee whilst updating and overhauling others.

Announcing the plans on Wednesday at an analyst conference in New York, Michael R. McClellan, vice president of automotive and intermodal marketing for Norfolk Southern said "This is exciting, this is a big deal...NS is fully prepared to invest, invest a lot of money in fact, up to a point where we earn reasonable rates of return on the projects."