WILMINGTON — The Queen City Express is finally ready to take its inaugural trip from Wilmington to Charlotte starting July 28.
The train’s route marks the return of intermodal rail to North Carolina Ports after a 30-year hiatus, Cliff Pyron senior manager of external affairs for North Carolina Ports said. Intermodal rail is the process of loading shipping containers on trains for transporting commodities.
“The Queen City Express provides premier rail service over competing ports for existing and future container customers in one of the most significant economic centers in the Southeastern United States,” Executive Director Paul J. Cozza said. “In addition, further establishing our inland terminal helps answer the request of many cargo owners asking for improved connectivity to international markets.”
One of the things that makes the Queen City Express different is that it will provide daily service to and from Charlotte, increasing the amount of imports as well as exports for Wilmington, Pyron said. It is also one of the fastest and most direct rail services into Charlotte from a port in the U.S. Southeast.
“This service, dovetailed with the investment that CSX is making in Rocky Mount, is a testament to our dedication to the State of North Carolina and North Carolina Ports,” Dean Piacente, vice president of CSX Intermodal said. “In addition to the connection to Charlotte, CSX will also provide future access to a transformational, state-of-the-art intermodal rail terminal in Eastern North Carolina — the Carolina Connector.”
The Port of Wilmington has seen unprecedented growth and is expecting to continue seeing an increase in goods moved in and out of Wilmington, Pyron said. A testament to that growth is the $150 million investment to infrastructure in addition to four new container services.
“Between the new cranes, turning basin expansion project, various berth improvements, and the expansion of the container yard, North Carolina Ports will pump over $150 million into its infrastructure over the next few years,” according to a press release from the Port.
“North Carolina’s ports in Wilmington and Morehead City, plus inland terminals in Charlotte and in Greensboro, link the state’s consumers, businesses and industry to world markets, and serve as magnets to attract new business and industry to the State of North Carolina. Port activities contribute statewide to 76,000 jobs and $700 million each year in state and local tax revenues,” the release states.
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