MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Port Authority and CSX Transportation broke ground on a new inland port intermodal facility in Montgomery that will be capable of handling 30,000 containers for transfer between trains and trucks.
The $94 million Montgomery Intermodal Container Transfer Facility or ICTF, was announced in 2022 [see “Alabama Port Authority announces …,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 31, 2022]. The facility, on a 272-acre site with access to Interstate 85 and U.S. Route 31, will operate five days a week with express service by CSX to and from the Port of Mobile. It is expected to open in 2027.
“This project is a significant step forward in advancing Alabama’s supply chain connectivity and economic growth,” Christina Bottomley, CSX vice president of business development & real estate, said in a press release. “This inland port will transform how freight is moved across the state — shifting more goods from congested highways onto the sustainable, efficient rail network that CSX operates.”
The Port Authority said the area around the facility has attracted over $3 billion in private business development investment since it was announced.
“The Montgomery ICTF is a game-changer for freight movement in Alabama and beyond,” said John Driscoll, Port Authority CEO. “This facility will provide businesses with seamless access to global markets, driving economic growth and strengthening our state’s supply chain infrastructure.”
As a regular traveler on I-65 in Alabama I’d love to see less truck traffic. But I just don’t see how this will work in the long run. It’s only 170 miles Mobile to Montgomery and takes usually about 2 1/2 hours drive time. So containers that now are unloaded off a ship in Mobile onto a trailer are towed directly to their destination and unloaded and then back to Mobile. With this new terminal the containers will be unloaded from the ship, trucked over to the State Docks small two track Intermodal rail facility and loaded onto a rail car. Then the train must be put together and transferred over to CSX. So then CSX will transport them with “express service” to the new Montgomery terminal for unloading and movement to their final destination by truck. I’d guess all this will probably take a LOT longer than the present arrangement and add cost. I really don’t see CSX or any class one running a “express service” anywhere nowadays much less over this short distance. Maybe I’m missing something. I truly hope this works to relieve congestion on I-65. Otherwise we’ll have a 94 million parking lot much of which will have been paid for with Alabama tax dollars.