The idea was to build volume for origins and destinations that didn’t generate enough traffic to warrant dedicated trains in specific service lanes.
Transfers between trains and trucks were provided for, but at least at the beginning were expected to account for just a small fraction of the facility’s activity.
That’s all changing now, with CSX having phased out the hub model starting about a year ago with the elimination of lower-volume routes and a substantial/complete reduction in the numbers of freight containers brought into the terminal for sorting.
Instead, the intermodal site is going to sink or swim based on the volume of freight transferred there between trucks and trains.
Early this month, CSX announced a partnership with NorthPoint Development to construct a logistics park on more than 500 acres neighboring the rail terminal; a new “haulage” agreement with BNSF Railway to handle containerized freight directly between Southern California and North Baltimore, and new CSX service between the northwest Ohio terminal and the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Read more on The Blade.
