MNN - Mother Nature Network

In 2008, CSX launched the National Gateway, an $842 million public-private infrastructure initiative to create a highly efficient freight transportation link between the Mid-Atlantic ports and the Midwest.

 

The National Gateway leverages the safety, economic and environmental benefits of rail transportation by combining the resources and expertise of the public and private sectors. This innovative public private partnership will provide $22 in public benefits for every $1 of public money invested – that’s more than $10 billion in public benefits.

 

The benefits the National Gateway will provide include:

• Avoiding 20 million tons of carbon emissions
• Reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil
• Assisting states in attainment of federal clean air standards
• Reducing 7,000 tons of nitrogen oxides
• Reducing 1,000 tons of particulate matter
• Saving nearly two billion gallons of fuel
• Improving safety and highway congestion by maximizing the efficiency of freight rail and partnering with trucking companies to reduce truck miles traveled by more than 14.3 billion miles
• Increasing economic competitiveness by saving $3.5 billion in shipper and logistics costs, significantly increasing freight capacity, reducing transit times between West Coast ports and major population centers by 24 to 48 hours, and tripling the market access potential for the ports of Baltimore, Hampton Roads, and Wilmington
• Creating more than 50,000 jobs, including more than 25,000 jobs in 14 economically distressed areas; and
• Repairing and replacing declining infrastructure.