page_title: Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island
section_title: Attempts to revive rail freight in the City and Long Island
hierarchical_section_title: Rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island / History / Attempts to revive rail freight in the City and Long Island
caption_attribution_description: English: New w:Goethals Bridge over w:Arthur Kill between w:Staten Island, New York City and New Jersey in the USA. Supports for the old bridge are visible to the right of the new dual bridge. Also showen is the w:Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge carrying a freight railroad track. The two barge-to-rail transfer facilities of New York City's new solid waste disposal system are also visible. One is on the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island, near the bottom, and is used by w:Covanta Energy; the other, on the New Jersey side between the Goethals Bridge and the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge, is used by w:Waste Management. Solid waste containers are on barges near both facilities.
context_page_description: From the start of railroading in America through the first half of the 19th century, New York City and Long Island were major areas for rail freight transportation. However, their relative isolation from the mainland United States has always posed problems for rail traffic. Numerous factors over the late 20th century have caused further declines in freight rail traffic. Efforts to reverse this trend are ongoing, but have met with limited success.
  The New York and Atlantic Railroad currently operates all rail freight on the Long Island Rail Road's rights-of-way in Long Island. CSX Transportation also operates within New York City, as do several shortline railroads including a car float across the harbor.
context_section_description: Starting in the late 20th century, government officials have sought to increase the amount of freight to New York City and Long island that arrives by rail. To this end, several private and public sector initiatives have been undertaken:
  Construction of the Hunts Point Market in 1972, with extensive rail facilities connected to the Oak Point Yard
  The State of New York's $375 million "Full Freight Access Program" to allow cars with higher, TOFC clearance (but not double-stack) to reach Queens and Long Island, including construction of the Oak Point Link and the Harlem River Intermodal Yard in the Bronx. The link opened in 1998. The Harlem River Intermodal Yard was intended to handle intermodal containers but none were ever lifted there. Instead, it is being used for loading containerized trash onto trains for remote disposal.
  The restoration in 2006 of freight rail service to Staten Island via the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge at a cost of $72 million.
  The ExpressRail System, a $600 million investment in improved intermodal rail facilities at the container terminals on the west side of the Upper New York Bay and Newark Bay in New Jersey, and on Staten Island. The last yard of the project, next to Greenville yard, opened on January 7, 2019.
  The grant of a concession in 1997 to a private short haul railroad, the New York and Atlantic Railroad, to handle all rail freight on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)'s rights-of-way.
  The rebuilding of the 65th Street Yard, a rail yard at the Brooklyn shore with two car float bridges that allow rail cars to be loaded and unloaded onto barges, by the City and State in 1999 at a cost of $20 million. The car float bridges remained unused until 2012 because of financial disputes between the city and NYCHRR, which used bridges at the former Bush Terminal at 50th Street, instead. The 65th Street Yard was restored by the Port Authority for use by New York and New Jersey Rail, which it acquired in 2008.
  The use of $4.8 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to rehabilitate an NY&A rail spur at Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL), an industrial park located at Calverton, Long Island.
  The acquisition of the New York and New Jersey Rail cross harbor car float operations by the Port Authority in 2008 for $16 million. The Port Authority then acquired the New Jersey Greenville Yard in 2010 and awarded a contract for its reconstruction as a rail to barge facility in 2011. The authority's board authorized $118.1 million for the overall project. The State of New Jersey has budgeted $89 million in its 2012 budget to bring the Greenville Yard and Lift Bridge to a State-of-Good-Repair.
  The opening, in September 2011, of Brookhaven Rail Terminal (BRT), a privately financed $40 million, 28-acre transload facility. It is projected to take 40,000 trucks off Long Island roads and transfer 1 million tons of freight a year by 2016. The terminal includes three tracks for construction material, such as lumber, asphalt and concrete, and six tracks for merchandise, such as flour and biodiesel. Plans to expand the yard have generated community opposition.
  Rehabilitation and reactivation of the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (SBMT) along the Bay Ridge Channel in Sunset Park in late 2012. The terminal includes a 77-acre roll on/roll off automobile import and processing facility at the 39th Street pier, and an 11-acre, recycling facility for the city's plastic, metal and glass waste stream at the 30th Street pier. Both facilities are served by newly built rail connections to the 65th Street yard.
  Construction in 2014 of a transload facility for vegetable oil, food products and construction material at NYA's Wheel Spur Yard along Newtown Creek near Long Island City. NYA expects the facility to support replacement of the nearby Kosciuszko Bridge.  The NYA also received permission from the LIRR, which owns most of the tracks on which NYA operates, to handle cars weighing up to 286,000 pounds (130 t), the top load limit for railroads in the eastern U.S. The previous LIRR limit was 263,000 pounds (119 t).
caption: NYC's two barge to rail transfer facilities, on opposite sides of Arthur Kill. On the closer, Staten Island side, blue trash containers from Manhattan and Queens are placed on rail cars at the Howland Hook Marine Terminal. On the New Jersey side, green containers from Brooklyn are trucked to a nearby rail yard.[4]
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