November 14, 2007
Raising the Roof: Norfolk Southern Begins Work on Heartland Corridor Tunnels
NORFOLK, VA. - Heavy machinery grinds away brick, concrete and solid rock as a railroad tunnel near Cowan, Va., gets its roof raised to accommodate taller trains. This is the beginning of a three-year engineering project to increase intermodal freight capacity by raising vertical clearances in 28 tunnels on a Norfolk Southern rail line between the port of Hampton Roads, Va., and Chicago known as the Heartland Corridor. The first phase of the tunnel work began in October.
When the project is completed in early 2010, containerized freight moving in double-stack trains will be able to shave off about 200 miles and up to a day’s transit time between the East Coast and the Midwest. Currently, double-stack trains must take longer routes by way of Harrisburg, Pa., or Knoxville, Tenn. The Heartland Corridor goes across Virginia, through southern West Virginia and north through Columbus, Ohio.
“The Heartland Corridor is one of the most significant railroad engineering projects of modern times,” said Tim Drake, NS vice president engineering. “We’re excited to get started. We’re at the beginning of something big - a true partnership that will benefit the nation’s economy and create a competitive advantage for railroad shippers and receivers, our public partners and our communities.”
Stack trains require a minimum vertical clearance of 20’9". The methods of increasing clearances vary from lowering track to notching corners into an arched roof to digging out and installing a new roof. In one case, the top of the tunnel may be removed altogether, turning the tunnel into a “cut,” a process known as “daylighting.” Tunnel lengths range from 174 feet (the one to be daylighted at Big Four, W.Va.) to the Cowan Tunnel’s 3,302 feet.
In early 2008, work will have begun on three other tunnels in Virginia, near Eggleston and Pembroke, an