EIS to resume on long-delayed Cross-Harbor Freight Program

February 10, 2022 Editorial Staff

The 65th Street Railyard, also known as the Bay Ridge Yard, with the rail float facilities in the background.Wikimedia photo by Jim Henderson

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From brooklyneagle.com
By Raanan Gerber

The Port Authority plans to resume work on a Tier 2 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the oft-discussed but longstalled Cross Harbor Freight Movement Program, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Brooklyn-Manhattan).

As part of the review, the EIS will look at how a possible freight tunnel between Southwest Brooklyn and New Jersey could work in concert with the Interborough Express transit line between Brooklyn and Queens.

The Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel, as the proposal has been known, would remove about 1,800 trucks per day from New York Harbor crossings, according to an Eagle article from 2017. While the freight cars would have to share part of the same right-of-way in Brooklyn (the LIRR’s Bay Ridge Freight Line) with the new Interborough line, renderings of the Interborough show transit cars and freight trains side-by-side on adjacent tracks.

As a second option, the Port Authority’s EIS looks at enhancing existing float operations between Brooklyn and
New Jersey. Currently, barges bearing use the 65th Street railyard in Bay Ridge. According to “Untapped Cities,” materials that have been transported by float include soybean oil, Washington State apples, recycled material and scrap metal, as well as new MTA subway cars.

With the help of U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, federal funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) have been repurposed to immediately resume the preparation of a Tier 2 EIS that will perform the legally required, detailed analysis of the environmental effects.

The EIS will also analyze potential mitigation measures for the two preferred alternatives identified in the prior Tier 1 study to reduce the current dependence on trucks to move freight across New York Harbor.

Nadler, in particular, has been pushing for the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel since the 1990s, and studies were done around 2000 and in 2014.

As long ago as the 1920s, the never-completed subway tunnel between Brooklyn and Staten Island was supposed to carry freight trains as well. If the tunnel had been completed, the trains could have run along the Staten Island Railway’s now-defunct North Shore Line, and from there into New Jersey as well.

“New York is committed to investing in a robust transit network that connects communities and includes cutting-edge projects for the movement of goods and cargo,” Hochul said. “We are aggressively moving forward with the next phase of development for the Cross Harbor Rail Freight project as we look to reimagine New York’s transportation infrastructure.”

The rail tunnel option calls for construction of a freight tunnel under the New York Harbor that would run approximately four miles from Jersey City to Brooklyn. The railcar float alternative would greatly expand the existing
car float system, currently operated by New York New Jersey Rail LLC, and would include new transfer bridges, car floats, locomotives and tracks.

Nadler said, “I am thrilled that this critical transportation infrastructure project, which I have supported for 30 years, is moving forward. The Cross-Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel would connect New York’s metropolitan region to the national rail freight grid by diverting trucks from our streets to the underutilized rail network. It will change the way we move freight throughout our region, leading to economic, environmental, health, safety and cost-saving benefits for millions of people.”