Staten Island Status

For some reason, the SI freight railroad stuff seems to end up in the NJ forum, such as this recent thread

There's an article in today's NY Times about a large land deal in 'bloomfield' on Staten Island - where a large former oil terminal just south of AK will be developed for industrial use - container terminal and warehousing. There's a mention of tracks on the property though nothing specific about it becoming a rail customer. I can't imagine it wouldn't though assuming it gets built.

Went back and found it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/30/reale ... nd-it.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Relevant line:
"Railroad lines also snake through the Bloomfield site, which may allow shipping of goods from the logistics center to other points via rail rather than trucks."

We'll see what happens. Often these big development plans are announced and nothing comes of it for years.

To get back to your original question I heard container traffic is a bit off, though I would imagine the recycling plant is still going strong (if there's one thing NYC has a lot of it's trash).

Sir Ray wrote:For some reason, the SI freight railroad stuff seems to end up in the NJ forum, such as this recent thread

That's because Staten Island is part of New Jersey.

Sorry, that was sarcasm - I had to... it's how residents of the other 4 nyc boros think of Staten Island.

Interesting is Vanbro at the foot of South Ave., added 4 tracks inside their property.

http://vanbrodevelopment.com

Staten Island has tremendous industrial potential but the tax situation is hellish. That's why most of the remaining "industry" is related to transportation and distribution...stuff that needs to be done close to NY City. A reasonable tax policy could do wonders for Staten Island's industrial activity.

SJohn13 wrote:I think we can expect a leap in industrial activity along the SI branch in the next 10 years (hopefully)
If traffic did increase, do you think it would be necessary for CSAO to rehabilitate the line to Cranford Jct for easier routing South? I mean they did also rehabilitate the switch on the Jersey side of the AK Lift Bridge, just nothing farther. http://goo.gl/maps/aiBM4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm pretty sure the whole trestle after that would have to be replaced.

Considering that there are trees growing in it, that's a pretty good bet!

dano23 wrote:Interesting is Vanbro at the foot of South Ave., added 4 tracks inside their property.
http://vanbrodevelopment.com

You're correct, although Google satellite and most Bing views do NOT show the new 4 track yard, eventually I found an angle that did show it. In that view, one of the converyors is positioned over one of the tracks (southernmost), although not certain if it will be used for aggregate loading or in that configuration. Even better, in that view there looks like a elevated truck dump adjacent to that siding. The promo picture shows a flatcar with pipe, but, well, that's a promo picture.
The Bing view, in addition to the new trackage, also shows all 7 LARC's (LARC-LXs I think) parked neatly along the eastern side fencing ...

As for the siding that SJohn13 mentioned crossing Victory Blvd, I belive that was suppose to service Visy Paper. Not sure what exactly is the story with them...