The project, which breaks ground in 2011, will provide over 100 new jobs initially and 600 by 2016 – all in Franklin County.
Planned intermodal facility will mean hundreds of jobs for area
In a guest column that appeared in the Chambersburg Public Opinion, State Sen. Richard Alloway spoke of the job creation benefits of the new Norfolk Southern intermodal facility to be built in his district. Senator Alloway went to Washington to personally deliver this story to Members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation.
The Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility located in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, adjacent to the Antrim Commons Business Park, promises to deliver an economic boom to the region. The project, which broke ground in October 2010, will provide more than 100 new jobs initially and 600 by 2016 — all in Franklin County. The facility is projected to cost $95 million and will occupy a 200-acre site.
The new rail facility will not only create new jobs, but it will also help reduce truck traffic in the region. Franklin County is a prime thoroughfare for trucks with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, US Route 30, and Interstate 81 all passing through.
Local elected officials, such as State Sen. Richard Alloway, have lauded the facility’s benefits as an engine of economic development and a contributing factor to increased fuel efficiency.
“There are a number of economic development projects that are expected to help attract and retain jobs,” said Alloway. “Norfolk Southern’s new intermodal facility is one example. The project is expected to provide 126 jobs for the area and will bring a number of quality-of-life benefits, including reduced traffic congestion, less air pollution, less fuel consumption, and increased economic competitiveness for surrounding communities.”
The Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility will have the capacity to handle more than 85,000 containers and trailers annually. The terminal will serve four intermodal trains daily. Over the next ten years, a fully operational Crescent Corridor will create some 26,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and divert 700,000 long haul trucks onto rail. Without freight rail, these jobs would never have come to Franklin County or Pennsylvania.