by bwparker1
Courtesy of the Conrail Technical Society:
CRTS Update #10-04
Riding the Rails into the Port's Future:
Diesel locomotive's trip heralds change of shipping Howland Hook containers from truck to train
By Deborah Young
Thursday, October 05, 2006
When the 261,000-pound diesel locomotive clattered over the Arthur Kill Lift bridge yesterday afternoon, it marked the first such trip in 20 years between New Jersey and the ship terminal at Howland Hook in Mariners Harbor.
The engine's arrival heralded a fast-approaching transformation in the way the 85,000 freight containers arriving each year on ships from all over the globe -- filled with such cargo as shoes, bananas, CD players, pillows, pens and frozen shrimp -- will be transported.
In upcoming months, the 400 trucks now leaving the New York Container Terminal at Howland Hook each week -- weaving into thick traffic across the Goethals Bridge -- will become a thing of the past.
After a decade of planning and $180 million in city- and Port Authority-funded improvements in the long-dormant rails connecting New Jersey, Arlington Yard and the West Shore, the terminal now will be linked with the railway arteries of North America.
"What's important is it's been completed; it's a success; it will alleviate a lot of pollution; it will alleviate a lot of traffic over the Goethals Bridge -- and it will happen," said Borough President James Molinaro.
A staunch proponent of the freight rail project, Molinaro was the locomotive's sole passenger on its trip from Elizabeth, N.J. "The idea is, rail is coming back," he said.
The locomotive was purchased by Vancouver-based NYCT Inc. and will spend its days pulling containers from Howland Hook into Arlington Yard, about a half-mile down the tracks. There, it will assemble the containers onto chains of as many as 150 flatcars stretching as long as 10,000 feet, to be picked up by train companies coming over the bridge from New Jersey.
The rail system was originally slated to be operational by the beginning of 2006, but the improvement project took longer than anticipated.
With the infrastructure complete, only the agreements with CSX Transportation Inc., Norfolk Southern Corp. and other such freight companies remain to be completed. The trains could make as many as five trips a day from New Jersey to pick up the loaded flatcars for transport to the rest of the country and to drop off goods at Howland Hook to be shipped out for export.
"We're just waiting for the paperwork to be complete and all the t's crossed and the i's dotted," said Molinaro.
The amount of cargo off-loaded at NYCT now accounts for about 10 percent of the region's port commerce. The former Howland Hook Marine Terminal reopened in 1996.
Business could grow by as much as 55 percent in the next year and a half, as a result of the freight train service and a new, direct rail link established with the Travis location of VanBro Corp. and Pratt Industries (the former Visy Paper company), said John Atkins, the company's vice president of operations.
"It's a win-win for us and for the businesses and the motorists of Staten Island," he said.
"It's a historic moment," said Arie Van Tol, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey manager, as he watched the navy-blue and canary-yellow locomotive make its way over the bridge. "We had rail service for so many years since the late 1800s, and the city and the Port Authority have restored it."
CRTS Update #10-04
Riding the Rails into the Port's Future:
Diesel locomotive's trip heralds change of shipping Howland Hook containers from truck to train
By Deborah Young
Thursday, October 05, 2006
When the 261,000-pound diesel locomotive clattered over the Arthur Kill Lift bridge yesterday afternoon, it marked the first such trip in 20 years between New Jersey and the ship terminal at Howland Hook in Mariners Harbor.
The engine's arrival heralded a fast-approaching transformation in the way the 85,000 freight containers arriving each year on ships from all over the globe -- filled with such cargo as shoes, bananas, CD players, pillows, pens and frozen shrimp -- will be transported.
In upcoming months, the 400 trucks now leaving the New York Container Terminal at Howland Hook each week -- weaving into thick traffic across the Goethals Bridge -- will become a thing of the past.
After a decade of planning and $180 million in city- and Port Authority-funded improvements in the long-dormant rails connecting New Jersey, Arlington Yard and the West Shore, the terminal now will be linked with the railway arteries of North America.
"What's important is it's been completed; it's a success; it will alleviate a lot of pollution; it will alleviate a lot of traffic over the Goethals Bridge -- and it will happen," said Borough President James Molinaro.
A staunch proponent of the freight rail project, Molinaro was the locomotive's sole passenger on its trip from Elizabeth, N.J. "The idea is, rail is coming back," he said.
The locomotive was purchased by Vancouver-based NYCT Inc. and will spend its days pulling containers from Howland Hook into Arlington Yard, about a half-mile down the tracks. There, it will assemble the containers onto chains of as many as 150 flatcars stretching as long as 10,000 feet, to be picked up by train companies coming over the bridge from New Jersey.
The rail system was originally slated to be operational by the beginning of 2006, but the improvement project took longer than anticipated.
With the infrastructure complete, only the agreements with CSX Transportation Inc., Norfolk Southern Corp. and other such freight companies remain to be completed. The trains could make as many as five trips a day from New Jersey to pick up the loaded flatcars for transport to the rest of the country and to drop off goods at Howland Hook to be shipped out for export.
"We're just waiting for the paperwork to be complete and all the t's crossed and the i's dotted," said Molinaro.
The amount of cargo off-loaded at NYCT now accounts for about 10 percent of the region's port commerce. The former Howland Hook Marine Terminal reopened in 1996.
Business could grow by as much as 55 percent in the next year and a half, as a result of the freight train service and a new, direct rail link established with the Travis location of VanBro Corp. and Pratt Industries (the former Visy Paper company), said John Atkins, the company's vice president of operations.
"It's a win-win for us and for the businesses and the motorists of Staten Island," he said.
"It's a historic moment," said Arie Van Tol, a Port Authority of New York and New Jersey manager, as he watched the navy-blue and canary-yellow locomotive make its way over the bridge. "We had rail service for so many years since the late 1800s, and the city and the Port Authority have restored it."
