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Dec 1, 2003 12:00 PM

The New Jersey & Northern Railway LLC has signed a long-term on-site rail switching agreement with International Realty Group for the 165-acre/1,000,000-square-foot former VA Supply Depot in Somerville NJ. International Realty Group is a national real estate investment company with 50 million square feet of industrial space under management throughout the United States.

With four miles of rail and about 180 car spots, the 165-acre site could accommodate unloading of a unit train with 100 railcars. The site also offers 100 “live” car spots for plastics products. Additional rail infrastructure will be built within 12 months in order to accommodate a total of 300 car spots.

“Our intention is to develop the site into one of the largest multi-products transload facilities in the country,” said Eyal Shapira, principal owner of the New Jersey & Northern Railway. “We plan to focus initially on forest products, and steel products that originate on the Norfolk Southern rail system, in addition to plastics products.”

The site is near Interstate 287, I-78, and I-95 (New Jersey Turnpike). Rail service to the site is being provided by Norfolk Southern. The site can receive 286,000-pound cars, and it is cleared for high-cube rail cars, including tri-level auto cars.

The New Jersey & Northern Railway is an affiliate of the Raritan Central Railway LLC, which provides rail service to the 2,350-acre/14 million-sq-ft Raritan Center Industrial Park in Edison NJ. Raritan Central Railway connects to CSX and NS.

“Keeping with our goals of converting truck traffic to rail, we expect the combined rail operations to handle over 7,000 car loads within 18 months. That translates into taking approximately 28,000 truck loads on the New Jersey highways and putting them on the rail system,” said Shapira.