NS opens intermodal hub at Harrisburg - Norfolk Southern - Brief Article

Railway Age, July, 2000

Norfolk Southern opened its new $31 million Rutherford intermodal hub at Harrisburg, Pa., last month. "Rutherford helps Norfolk Southern deliver on the intermodal service potential we envisioned as a result of our expansion into the Northeast," said NS Chairman, President, and CEO David R. Goode.

Among benefits claimed by NS are improved services for customers using the ports of Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York/New Jersey, and Norfolk; reduced congestion in Chicago as NS and its interline partners "hub" traffic at Rutherford; and new north-south services that will be launched later this summer. NS said the Rutherford hub differs from traditional intermodal facilities in that it transfers containers not only between road and rail but between trains as well.

"For intermodal traffic moving between the East and western connections, we now can conduct 'steel wheel' interchanges in Rutherford rather than the usual 'rubber tire' interchanges at Chicago," said Michael R. McClellan, vice president-Intermodal Marketing.

The Rutherford facility, which is at the site of a former Reading Railroad yard, has 10 classification tracks, two loading/unloading tracks, two overhead cranes, and parking space for 600 trailers.