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Local News

Saturday, August 15, 2009

CSX: $175M rail yard will spur additional businesses
By LOU WILIN

STAFF WRITER

NORTH BALTIMORE -- CSX officials are betting that in 2011, North Baltimore will become a $175 million hub to sort goods for shipping across the nation by train and truck.

CSX Corp. officials, Gov. Ted Strickland, U.S. Rep. Bob Latta and others held a groundbreaking ceremony Friday to celebrate the rail yard, to be built north of Ohio 18 and a mile west of North Baltimore.

It will employ more than 200 when fully operational. Four hundred more jobs are being generated during construction. The rail yard will spur warehouses and other businesses, generating about 2,600 jobs in the next 10 years, CSX officials predicted.

"This is a great opportunity for northwest Ohio to play a major role in the nation's vital freight transportation network, while creating jobs and boosting the economy of the region," Strickland said.

"It really is going to make Wood County a major national logistics center," CSX Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward said.

About 25 trains coming from East Coast ports like Newport News, Va., Baltimore and New York City will enter the rail yard daily. Five 500-ton cranes, 300 feet wide and spanning eight rows of tracks, will move containers and trailers onto flat cars of other trains, or onto truck chassis parked beside the tracks, said Wilby Whitt, assistant vice president of operations for CSX Intermodal.

Cargo will be arranged into longer trains headed for other destinations, like Chicago and farther west to California, Ward said.

Goods also will come from the west to be sorted and shipped east.

Some goods will be reorganized without a crane. A nine-track support yard will enable blocks of five to 20 cars to be rearranged, said John Bradley, CSX Great Lakes Division manager.

The rail yard will have 23 miles of track, and will stretch east-to-west about three miles from Liberty Hi Road to Range Line Road.

It is estimated that 20 percent of the rail yard's business will be loaded onto trucks for delivery to destinations within 75 miles.

"We would expect that (percentage) to grow over time to be a larger percentage as the distribution centers build up around the area," Whitt said.

If Home Depot builds the warehouse it has been talking about near Van Buren, it would likely use the rail yard.

"We would expect them to be a large user," Whitt said. Home Depot merchandise would come to East and West Coast ports from Asia and other countries, he said.

North Baltimore, with its main CSX line, is in the right location for the terminal.

It also is benefiting from timing. Rail transportation is far more fuel efficient and pollutes less than trucks, CSX leaders said. Trucking companies, having difficulties recruiting drivers willing to be on the road for weeks, have sought rail companies' help to shorten truck trips, said Gary Sease, a CSX spokesman.

It is driving a "rail renaissance," CSX's Ward said.

"Demand for freight transportation will almost double in the next 25 years," he said. "We are investing, we are betting on the future. ... Even for a large corporation ... ($175 million) is a huge investment, a huge bet we are making here, and we are very confident we are making a good bet."

The terminal near North Baltimore is part of an $840 million CSX project with the federal and state governments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, shipping costs and highway congestion.

CSX will spend $390 million, 45 percent of that near North Baltimore, for the "National Gateway." The rest of the money will come from federal and state governments, mostly to raise clearances under bridges and tunnels. It will enable CSX to double-stack rail cars.

On the Web:

www.csx.com



Wilin: 419-427-8413

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News Briefs Firefighters discover 20 marijuana plants in house
After fighting a house fire early Monday at 815 Howard St., firefighters found 20 marijuana plants in the residence.

"They ran across it and called us," said police Sgt. Justin Hendren with the Hancock County METRICH Drug Enforcement Unit.

Police seized all 20 plants, and Hendren said charges are pending.

High-powered growing lights, fans, and a box filled with dried marijuana were also found in the house, according to a police report.

Investigators said an electrical short started the fire before 3 a.m. Monday.

The blaze caused an estimated $12,000 in damage to the residence, owned by Amanda Crawford. No one was injured, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

Carey announces holiday closing
CAREY -- Carey offices, including administrative, income tax and utilities, electric, wastewater treatment plant, and public works, will be closed Monday in observance of Labor Day.

The curbside recycling program will be held Tuesday through Thursday, Sept. 7-9.

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With the promotion, Fletcher will stay at the Findlay post and serve as an assistant post commander, according to the patrol.

Fletcher began his patrol career in 2002 after graduating from the 139th Academy class and has been assigned to the Findlay post since.

Owens announces holiday schedule
The Toledo and Findlay campuses of Owens Community College will be closed Saturday through Monday for the Labor Day holiday.

There will be no classes and the college offices will be closed.

Classes will resume and offices will open again on Tuesday.

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The Courier won't be published on Monday, in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

Because of the holiday, some advertising deadlines have been moved up this week:

Black and white display advertising for Tuesday's newspaper must be placed by noon Friday. Display advertising for Wednesday's newspaper must be placed by 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Color display advertising for the Thursday, Sept. 9 newspaper must be placed by Friday.

Classified advertising and City and Country advertising for Saturday's newspaper must be placed by 2 p.m. Friday. Classified ads for Tuesday's newspaper must be placed by 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Courier business and advertising offices will close at 3 p.m. Friday for the holiday.