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Norfolk Southern reopens Kentucky intermodal terminal

Terminal will serve ‘strong growth in the Louisville intermodal market’

A Norfolk Southern train. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Norfolk Southern has reopened an intermodal terminal serving Louisville, Kentucky, in light of “strong growth” in the intermodal market there.

NS (NYSE: NSC) reopened the terminal in Buechel, Kentucky, on Monday. The terminal will be open only for inbound traffic coming from the Norfolk International Terminals in Virginia and the Portsmouth APM Terminals at the Virginia International Gateway in Norfolk.  

The reopening will add terminal capacity to the growing Louisville market, NS said Sept. 29.

The reopening of the terminal follows other recent efforts to reopen terminals in the Midwest. In August, NS reopened a South Central intermodal facility, while BNSF (NYSE: BRK.B) reopened a terminal serving the Memphis, Tennessee, area. 


The FreightWaves SONAR chart below shows outbound rail container traffic from Louisville to Norfolk since the start of 2021:

Total outbound rail container volume from Louisville to Norfolk (in blue: ORAIL.SDFORF) since the start of the year. The green line represents total outbound loaded international container volume (ORAILINTL.SDFORF) and the purple line represents total outbound empty international container volume (ORAILINE.SDFORF). (FreightWaves SONAR) To learn more about FreightWaves SONAR, click here.

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Joanna Marsh

Joanna is a Washington, DC-based writer covering the freight railroad industry. She has worked for Argus Media as a contributing reporter for Argus Rail Business and as a market reporter for Argus Coal Daily.