Norfolk Southern has launched NSites, a GIS-based search engine to help businesses easily find rail-served industrial sites and transload facilities that meet their needs. This innovative online portal provides comprehensive information about industrial sites near Norfolk Southern’s transportation infrastructure, encouraging investment and job creation. 

Norfolk Southern’s network connects customers to every major container port in the eastern U.S. and reaches a majority of the country’s population and manufacturing base. 

“We developed NSites with the user in mind, to empower current and future customers during site selection decisions,” said Ed Elkins, executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “Before NSites, there was no single destination to help large manufacturers, site-selection professionals, and developers identify and compare rail-served industrial sites that offer the exact site characteristics they need.”

The search tool includes more than 800 available industrial locations across the railroad’s 22-state territory, all verified as rail accessible by Norfolk Southern or one of its short line partners. Additionally, users can find nearly 250 rail-to-truck transload facilities in key markets across the eastern U.S.

Similar to online residential real-estate sites that let users search for homes based on their criteria, NSites enables a customized search of properties. By using targeted filters, companies can sift through results based on acreage, location, existing warehousing, and proximity to highways, intermodal terminals, and port facilities.

“Technology is at the heart of how we serve our customers, and NSites is one of many initiatives we’re developing to build the digital railroad of the future,” Elkins said.

Access to cost-effective and environmentally friendly rail transportation is an increasingly important factor in the site-selection process for manufacturing and distribution companies with multi-modal supply chains. The NSites platform enhances the transparency and efficiency of the process, providing users site-specific Norfolk Southern contacts who can answer questions and coordinate projects from initial contact to delivery of the first railcar.

“Norfolk Southern provides safe, reliable, and efficient freight transportation that is also the most sustainable option to ship goods over land. Shipping by rail instead of truck lowers carbon emissions by 75% on average,” Elkins said. “Investment in sites that are rail accessible also helps to create jobs in the communities we serve.” 

Among its numerous innovative features, NSites offers auto generated, downloadable site brochures and site data that users can analyze offline and share with other stakeholders in the site-selection process.

For a brief demonstration of the NSites platform click here and for more information visit nsites.nscorp.com.