CSX Transsportation planning upgrades, Hyundai rail yard

Posted 8:42AM on Friday 17th May 2002 ( 22 years ago )

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - CSX Transportation Inc. plans to upgrade its rail network in Alabama and build a rail yard to serve the new Hyundai plant in Montgomery, CSX officials said. Jacksonville-based CSX said it would spend $32 million this year to maintain and upgrade its 1,240 miles of track in the state. "Our rail freight network links Alabama businesses and industries to the entire nation," said Randy Evans, vice president of real estate and industrial development for CSX. The Hyundai rail yard will provide storage space for the company's next-generation Sonata sedans and Santa Fe sport utilities, which are scheduled to begin rolling off the assembly line in 2005. The vehicles will be loaded onto rail cars for their journey to dealerships. The automaker also will unload shipping containers from rail cars in the yard, said John C. Sanford, CSX's industrial development director for Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. CSX tracks at the site stretch to Mobile, where the Alabama State Docks are located. The Korean automaker is expected to export some of its Alabama-made vehicles. CSX said its investment in Alabama this year will be directed toward upgrading its rail system, with workers putting in bridges, replacing ties and making other improvements. Last year, CSX was involved in 10 Alabama economic-development projects, with investments totaling $355 million and 185 new jobs. For example, CSX worked with GE Plastics in Burkville, where 2,660 carloads of plastics will be transported by rail each year. Thirty-five jobs will come from GE Plastics' $185 million investment in Lowndes County. Virginia-based Norfolk Southern also continues to work with state economic development officials to get companies to build or expand operations near its rail lines.

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