Terminal's train traffic to start rolling in

Major roads in Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Suffolk will soon be blocked more often by trains as rail traffic starts from APM Terminals' new container cargo operation in Portsmouth.

Regular train service to and from the cargo terminal is expected to begin in March, a top APM official said last week.

The trains will help keep cargo-container-laden trucks off local highways. But it also means drivers on such roads as Cedar Lane, West Norfolk Road, Churchland Boulevard, Western Branch Boulevard, Taylor Road, Shoulders Hill Road and Nansemond Parkway will see more delays as they wait for passing trains.

The delays will continue in Portsmouth and Chesapeake until 2009, when construction on a new rail line that bypasses roads in those cities should be finished.

Negotiations continue between APM and the railroads that will serve the facility, said Edward McCarthy, senior director of APM Terminals Virginia. Short line Commonwealth Railway connects to the new complex, located off Va. 164. But Commonwealth has just 16.5 miles of track, so containers moving to and from the terminal will be transferred with the two major eastern rail carriers, Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp.

Since the $450 million terminal opened in July, only a few trains have rolled into the 230-acre operation; they operated last fall to carry empty containers out of the new terminal, McCarthy said. There has not been any kind of holdup to bringing regular train service to APM Terminals Virginia, he said. There's just been "typical negotiations."

Talks are "further along" with Norfolk Southern and Commonwealth than with CSX, McCarthy said. Maersk Line, the world's largest cargo container line and APM Terminals' sister company and biggest customer, "predominately" uses Norfolk Southern, he said.

The facility is designed to handle 25 percent of its freight via rail and eventually up to 40 percent with future upgrades, McCarthy said. Trucks will carry the remainder. How often the trains run will depend on cargo volumes, he said.

"There could be one a day or even more," McCarthy said.

Early on, at least, trains to the new facility will probably run four days a week, said Andy Chunko, a vice president with a division of Commonwealth's parent company, Greenwich, Conn.-based Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

In 2006, a consultant working with Commonwealth Railway and the Virginia Port Authority predicted that initially trains averaging 2,300 feet long would make 13 round trips per week between APM and a new marshaling yard built by Commonwealth in Suffolk. From that yard westward, four round trips per week were expected by trains averaging 7,000 feet long, said an official with engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol.

Eventually, trains into APM are projected to double to 26 round trips per week, the firm concluded.

Construction is proceeding on a project to reroute Commonwealth Railway's tracks through Portsmouth and Chesapeake to the medians of Va. 164 and Interstate 664 to alleviate crossing tie-ups in those cities. The $60 million effort, which will eliminate about a dozen rail crossings, is scheduled to be finished by the summer of 2009, said Jeffrey Florin, chief engineer for the Port Authority, which is overseeing the project.

The railroads have been readying their systems to handle the expected surge in cargo from the terminal.

Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern improved its connection to Commonwealth in Suffolk and added more tracks at its rail yard in Crewe. It also increased capacity at its Petersburg automotive facility so such shipments could be shifted there to make more room for cargo container trains in Crewe. The improvements cost $7.5 million, for which the state chipped in $4.2 million, said Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman.

CSX completed a $6.1 million connection to Commonwealth in Suffolk that was paid for by both CSX and the state, said Gary Sease, a spokesman for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad. CSX also recently completed some track clearance projects in the area to accommodate trains stacked two high with cargo containers.

Commonwealth also is improving its tracks and bridges, Chunko said, and is adding and enhancing rail crossing signals along its 16.5-mile route.

Gregory Richards, (757) 446-2599, gregory.richards@pilotonline.com