LORDSTOWN, Ohio – Total Distribution Services Inc., a subsidiary of CSX Corp., has plans to expand its automotive transfer yard here, according to documents filed with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
TDSI plans to add a 6.86-acre lot to its operation at 2188 Lyntz Townline Road, just north of the former General Motors Assembly plant, now owned and operated by Foxconn, documents show.
The company is a rail-to-truck and truck-to-rail transloading site for automobiles either shipped to or from northeastern Ohio.
The expansion would add capacity along the west side of a CSX railroad that runs north and south from Norfolk Southern Corp.’s Goodman Yard, directly behind the Foxconn plant and Ultium Cell’s manufacturing operation off Tod Avenue.
Total construction area is expected to include nearly 10 acres of a 113.3-acre site that CSX owns, documents show.
Plans call for a new retention pond, and grading, excavation, paving, seeding and mulching is expected to begin in late summer. The project is expected to be completed in the fall, according to a stormwater pollution prevention plan submitted to OEPA.
TDSI’s Lordstown automotive facility already maintains two large lots at the site.
CSX declined to comment on the project and the reason for the expansion.
Meanwhile, upgrades are underway at a Norfolk Southern rail line just northeast of the Foxconn and Ultium plants. In May, new railroad ties designed to replace aging infrastructure were observed alongside the tracks.
The track, dubbed the Lordstown Secondary line, has not handled much traffic in recent years, according to a Norfolk Southern spokesperson, but is still regarded as active.
“The NS team is performing routine track maintenance, replacing ties on some track in that area,” a Norfolk Southern spokesperson said in late May. “While there is not a lot of train movement in this location, much of that track is still considered active.”
Pictured at top: Total Distribution Services’ automotive yard in Lordstown.