Triple Crown Services Company has announced plans to invest over $21 million in equipment, expansion, and new jobs in 2004. The transportation company, headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN, will acquire 800 new trailers, double the size of its local terminal and maintenance facility, begin service to the Minneapolis area, and add 15 new jobs.
Equipment Acquisition
The company will invest approximately $20 million in the acquisition of 800 RoadRailer trailers and 250 rail bogies. RoadRailers are enclosed truck trailers designed to conventionally transport freight over the road and to be supported above rail track on wheel assemblies
(bogies) for long distance travel.
The equipment acquisition will bring the total of Triple Crown RoadRailers to over 6,400 in service throughout the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.
RoadRailer trailers and bogies are manufactured by Wabash National Corporation in Lafayette, IN. Production is expected to begin in April with delivery to Triple Crown beginning in
May of this year.
Terminal and Maintenance Facility Expansion
Additionally, Triple Crown will double the size of its Fort Wayne terminal and maintenance facility. The $800,000 project will add 6,000 square feet of enclosed space and will include new trailer and bogie maintenance bays, parts inventory, and administrative area. Construction is
expected to being in March and completed in the summer.
The facility is the base for 45 mechanics and operations personnel. The terminal is the staging area for freight picked up and delivered within 100 miles of Fort Wayne. The maintenance facility services the entire Triple Crown RoadRailer fleet and operates 24 hours/day, 7 days a
week.
New Service and Terminal in Minneapolis
Triple Crown also announced expansion of its service network into the Minneapolis, MN, area. The company plans to begin operations in Minneapolis within the next two months and to have a new terminal in operation by mid year.
The opening of the Minneapolis terminal will bring the total number of terminals in the Triple Crown service network to twelve in the U.S. and two in Canada.
Creation of 15 New Jobs
The RoadRailer trailer acquisition, local terminal expansion, and Minneapolis opening will result in 15 new jobs, most of which will be in Fort Wayne. Currently, Triple Crown employs approximately 190 people in Fort Wayne and 45 at other locations throughout the U.S. and Canada.
In making the announcement, Triple Crown Services Company President Jim Newton stated, We are proud and excited about the growth of Triple Crown in its short history and our potential in upcoming years. Providing our customers with the highest quality service and equipment is the primary focus of the entire Triple Crown team. Much of that service is provided here in Fort
Wayne, and we are fortunate to have a workforce and a community that complements our mission. We look forward to the expansion of our network and providing our Triple Crown service to the Minneapolis area.
Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard stated, This is great news for the City of Fort Wayne, not just because of the additional growth and physical expansion of this company, but also because of the recognition a locally-based company is receiving in the logistics industry. Our city is fortunate to host a growing and dynamic company like Triple Crown Services, and we pledge to do everything possible to retain and grow this operation here in northeast Indiana.
Triple Crown Services Company, headquartered in Fort Wayne, is the largest provider of bimodal transportation service in the world. Its current fleet of 5,600 RoadRailer trailers delivered over 260,000 truckloads of freight in 2003.
The company began operations in 1986, serving customers in Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, and Atlanta through its Fort Wayne hub. Strong customer response drove system expansion through the 1990s, and the network grew west to Kansas City, east to the Atlantic coast, and south to Florida and Texas.
RoadRailers combine both over-the-road and on-the-rail transportation. Truckload freight is picked up from shippers and driven to Triple Crown terminals where the trailers are set on railroad wheels, called bogies. The assembled trains then travel to the destination terminals where the trailers are hitched to tractors and delivered.
Triple Crown Services Company is an affiliate of Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC), one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway subsidiary operates 21,500 route miles in 22 states, the District of Columbia, and Ontario.