With the assistance of Norfolk Southern (NS), NS customers have invested $4 billion in locating or expanding their businesses along the company’s rail lines in 2016. The investments by the 58 new and 13 expanded industries are expected to create more than 4,600 new jobs in the railroad's service area, generating more than 50,000 carloads of new rail traffic annually.
Jason Reiner, NS assistant vice president industrial development, said, “We were pleased to see a steady stream of manufacturing projects and a markedly stronger portfolio overall near the end of the year, and that is an encouraging indicator for activity in the coming year. Sixteen manufacturing-related projects contributed nearly $2 billion in new investment by customers and 3,000 new jobs during 2016.”
NS assists customers by working with state and local economic development authorities on site location and development of infrastructure to connect customers to its rail system. The company also provides free and confidential facility location services, including industrial park planning, site layout, track design, and supply chain analysis.
In the past 10 years, NS’ Industrial Development Department has participated in the location or expansion of 945 facilities representing an investment of more than $60 billion and creating more than 43,000 direct new customer jobs in the territory served by the railroad.