Class I Briefs: NS, CPKC, BNSF
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
(NS photo)
Norfolk Southern (NS) is named “Railroad of the Year” by Evergreen Line. Also, NS restores and donates the historic East Palestine train depot; Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s (CPKC) Shreveport Terminal earns a CEO Award for Excellence; and BNSF provides supporting materials to a just-released documentary.
NS
NS recently announced that it has been named “Railroad of the Year” by global shipping line Evergreen Line honoring the Class I’s “outstanding service and reliability in 2023.”
Evergreen company owns 211 vessels, offers more than 150 weekly services, serves more than 300 ports of entry worldwide, and owns or operates 17 seaport terminals. NS is a transportation partner to Evergreen, and, each year, the Class I says Evergreen trusts NS to carry more than 91,000 shipments. The “Railroad of the Year” honor factors in such criteria as “on-time delivery, ease of doing business, shipment integrity and sustainability.”
With 54 intermodal terminals, more than 54 port and 270 short line connections, and a strategic footprint in 22 states, NS “offers the most extensive intermodal franchise in the East. Our partners rely on our powerful network to complete their supply chain,” the Class I stated.
In related news, NS officially donated the historic East Palestine train depot back to the village on May 16 following a complete restoration of the structure.
“We promised to rehabilitate the facility and turn it over to the community for its long-term use and today we are doing just that,” said NS CEO Alan Shaw. “Today, we are here to fulfill another promise… Just like Norfolk Southern, this facility has been a part of this community for years and, with the improvements we’ve made to it and turning it over to the community, we are going to make sure this train depot will be part of the community for decades moving forward.”
“I’ve never had any doubt that they were going to do the right thing and help clean up and do some of the projects they’re doing. Now we have a completed project. They said they were going to do this — they did it,” said East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway.
In addition to the $1 million restoration, NS provided a $100,000 grant for the village to customize the interior to fulfill the community’s intended use of the depot.
CPKC
CPKC recently announced via LinkedIn that, in 2024, its Shreveport Terminal earned the CEO Award for Excellence, which recognizes the top-performing terminal in the Class I’s rail network.
As CPKC’s largest processing yard in the Southern U.S., Shreveport, which earned this esteemed distinction for its “exceptional achievements in safety and service,” plays “a pivotal role” in the Class I’s operations, according to CPKC.
BNSF
BNSF recently announced via LinkedIn that it has provided supporting materials to a just-released documentary, “Joliet Arsenal Redevelopment: From Swords to Plowshares,” which explores the history of an important patch of land and how it has transformed through the decades.
About 60 miles from Chicago, the Joliet Arsenal was once the world’s largest producer of TNT. During World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, BNSF predecessors provided rail to support the facility. “Today, with the country at peace, we still play a role there,” the Class I said.
In the 1990s, portions of the 23,000-acre site were redistributed, with a majority going to the U.S. Forest Service. The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery was created with 1,000 acres, and 3,000 acres went toward economic development.
That economic development produced the country’s largest inland port, known as CenterPoint Intermodal Center, a 2,000-acre facility where BNSF has operated Logistics Park Chicago (LPC) since 2002.
The documentary is available here.
