First double-stacked train travels through Virginia Avenue Tunnel. Photo: courtesy of CSX.
CSX has completed the first phase of the new Virginia Avenue Tunnel project in Washington, D.C., which will allow trains to transport double-stacked intermodal freight on the company’s network between Mid-Atlantic seaports and the Midwest.
The first CSX freight train, which was made up of two locomotives and 50 cars of double-stacked intermodal freight containers between Portsmouth, Va., and North Baltimore, Ohio, passed through the new southern tunnel of the two-tunnel project on December 23. Work has already started on the northern tunnel. The entire project, primarily funded by CSX, is expected to be completed in mid-2018.
The Virginia Avenue Tunnel is the last of 61 clearance projects for the $850 million National Gateway Initiative, a public-private partnership that will create efficient pathways for rail freight in transportation infrastructure between U.S. markets.
Michael J. Ward, CSX chairman and CEO, stated, “Clearing the National Gateway for double-stack freight creates more efficient, more environmentally friendly routes to move the essential goods that fuel today’s economy.”
“Thanks to the support of our federal and state partners over the past eight years and the commitment of CSX’s shareholders to invest in the company’s future, the double-stack-cleared National Gateway will allow CSX to better meet the needs of consumers and businesses throughout the eastern U.S. for decades to come,” added Ward.
The project is replacing an existing tunnel that does not provide sufficient vertical clearance for double-stack intermodal containers and is not wide enough to allow a two-track rail configuration. When the north tunnel is complete, the Virginia Avenue Tunnel project will relieve a significant Mid-Atlantic rail bottleneck that impacts freight and passenger service in the region.
On December 15, Maryland submitted an application for a U.S. Department of Transportation FASTLANE grant to double-stack clear the Howard Street Tunnel and ten highway/rail crossings in Baltimore, which would remove the final impediments to a fully double-stack cleared rail corridor between Florida and New York. CSX has committed to contribute $145 million of the funding required to complete the project.