Port of Virginia completes expanded rail project

Eastern Class 1 railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX will help reach Midwest cities with double-stack trains from the newly expanded Port of Virginia central rail yard.

The Port of Virginia has announced that the expanded central rail yard is fully operational, lifting annual rail capacity to 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units.

“Modernizing and expanding the capability at NIT’s [Norfolk International Terminals] central rail yard gives us additional rail capacity ahead of the completion of the first phase of expansion at NIT’s North Berth [in 2025],” said Stephen A. Edwards, chief executive and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, in a new release. “Cargo volumes coming to the U.S. East Coast are steadily increasing.”

Class 1 railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX serve the port with regular, on- dock double-stack service.

The expansion broadens the port’s reach to Midwestern destinations by train, Edwards said at a ceremony to inaugurate the expansion. Virginia Transportation Secretary W. Sheppard Miller III, U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg, retired Maritime Administrator Rear Adm. Ann Philips, U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and industry representatives attended.

“We are proud to be a steward of this port modernization project contributing a $20 million investment which not only expands the Norfolk International Terminals’ central rail yard, but serves to elevate the entire Port of Virginia as a critical hub for trade on the East Coast,” said Trottenberg.

Construction began in 2022 and the $83 million project was delivered on time and on budget as part of the port’s $1.4 billion Gateway Investment Program. Financing included a $20 million federal grant and a $20 million grant from the state Department of Rail and Public Transportation to build two new track bundles and purchase three all-electric cantilever rail- mounted gantry cranes. That adds 455,000 TEUs of annual on-dock rail capacity, an increase of 31% portwide.

“Our Gateway Investment Program includes delivery of the deeper, wider and safer 55-foot [deep] channel, the expansion of North NIT and the creation of the Portsmouth offshore wind hub,” said Edwards. “This additional rail capacity has been delivered on time, in advance of the deeper channel and phase one of the North Berth expansion. Maintaining the construction schedule is important as we begin to message to the trade and talk about our expanded capabilities today, and what is coming in the very near future.”