Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel

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The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel (also known as the Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel) is a proposed rail tunnel under New York Harbor for freight, between northeastern New Jersey and Long Island, including southern and eastern New York City beyond Manhattan.

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[edit] Background

Direct connections for railroad freight between Long Island and nearby areas of the United States have long been very limited. At present, freight trains between New York City, Long Island and southwest Connecticut must cross the Hudson 140 miles north of New York City at Selkirk, New York, making a detour known as the "Selkirk hurdle." As a result, less than 3% by weight of the area's freight is said to move by rail. The former Pennsylvania Railroad planned a freight railroad tunnel between Brooklyn and Staten Island in 1893, but the project was never carried out. Attempts by government planners to revive the project from the 1920s through the 1940s did not succeed.[1] The Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad tunnels through New York Penn Station, generally used only for passenger trains, were used for freight during World War I to relieve congestion at the barge transport docks.[2]

Upper New York Harbor, showing the route of a proposed Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel.
Upper New York Harbor, showing the route of a proposed Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel.

In the early 1990s U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler revived interest in direct connection of rail freight to Long Island, hoping to reduce truck traffic through Manhattan.[3] With support from the City government, the New York City Economic Development Corporation commissioned a study of rail freight traffic across New York Harbor. The Cross Harbor Freight Movement Major Investment Study received $4 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $1 million from the New York City Industrial Development Agency. Edwards and Kelcey, a transportation engineering firm in Morristown, NJ, was hired to study the feasibility of alternative approaches to increased rail access for freight.

The idea of a cross-harbor rail tunnel also received support from Connecticut transportation planners, who believed such a rail connection would reduce truck traffic on the heavily congested Connecticut Turnpike. [1]

[edit] Studies of feasibility and environmental issues

In its summer 2000 report Edwards and Kelcey evaluated proposals for rail tunnels between Brooklyn and Staten Island and between Brooklyn and Jersey City, plus increased barge transport of railcars across New York Harbor. It estimated a pair of tunnels between Jersey City and Brooklyn to cost $2.15 billion, not including track connections or track improvements. Despite the length of the tunnels being considered, up to 17,000 ft (5200 m), the study found that providing enough ventilation to operate diesel locomotives would be practical.[4]

Probably mindful of environmental issues that were key elements in the 1985 cancellation of the Westway project, the New York City Industrial Development Agency commissioned an environmental assessment. This assessment found that immersed tube construction would be environmentally more hazardous and more expensive than bored tunnel construction. Ventilation was confirmed as practical and found unlikely to present greater hazards than fumes from trucks that would otherwise be used to transport freight.[1]

Following the feasibility and environmental studies, two organizations were formed to plan and promote a tunnel project and to seek government funding. They are the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, hosted by STV Group, a construction firm in New York City and Douglassville, PA, and the Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition, also known as "MoveNYNJ" or "Move NY & NJ," headed by Marnie McGregor, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Pratt Institute, Center for Urban Development in Brooklyn. The Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project is supported by funds from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration and the New York City Economic Development Corporation, while the Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition is a voluntary organization of business, union and political leaders. Political activity led to authorization of $100 million for a Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel as a federal transportation project in the U.S. Transportation Equity Act of 2005.[5]

[edit] Rail tunnel facilities and characteristics

New York Harbor area, showing locations of facilities proposed for a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel. Railroad lines are red and orange, major highways are purple and black.
New York Harbor area, showing locations of facilities proposed for a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel. Railroad lines are red and orange, major highways are purple and black.

The proposed Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel tubes would be large enough to take double-stacked container cars.[6] As of 2004, according to the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, the alignment favored for a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel was between portals (access points) located in Conrail's Greenville Yard in Jersey City and along the Long Island Rail Road's Bay Ridge Branch at 65th St in Brooklyn, crossing the middle of the Upper Harbor, with a length of 5.5 mi (8.8 km).

During the environmental assessment, existing rail infrastructure was surveyed for compatibility with a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel. Parts of the existing trackage need repair. Some rights of way have been reduced to single-track width or were never wider. Some track segments lack enough clearance above the tracks for double-stacked container cars.[7] [8] Such factors limit the effective capacity of a rail tunnel and will add substantial cost to overcome. Rail yards east of New York Harbor lack a trans-shipment terminal with enough capacity to transfer the freight coming through a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel to trucks. A proposal was generated to acquire 100 acres of land to build one in West Maspeth, Queens, though the original plans called for a terminal at the existing container terminal in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where the tunnel makes landfall, which is currently serviced only by truck and ship. [9] According to the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, project costs, including rail line connections and upgrades, will be substantially more than costs given in summer 2000 for just tunnels. They have been estimated at between $4.8 and $7.4 billion.[10]

Studies performed for the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel say about 30,000 trucks per day cross the George Washington Bridge and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge going to or from parts of Long Island, including Queens and Brooklyn, or about 10 million trucks per year, and the capacity of the proposed rail tunnel to carry freight is equivalent to between 0.5 and 1.0 million trucks per year.[11] If these estimates are accurate, then at full capacity the proposed rail tunnel could reduce truck traffic between 5 and 10%.

[edit] Criticism of rail tunnel plans

Some critics object that improving rail transport with a tunnel would provide little traffic reduction relative to its high cost.[12] The West Maspeth facility has been heavily criticized. It is proposed for an industrial site about four blocks south of the interchange between the Long Island Expressway (I-495) and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278), where Nichols Copper and later Phelps Dodge operated a copper refinery for decades. The copper plant closed in 1983, and the site has been largely vacant since then, although a new food warehouse was completed at its eastern end in 2005. It abuts the heavily polluted Newtown Creek.[13] The Maspeth location is different from the original Cross-Harbor terminal site at the tunnel landing in Red Hook, with different local conditions.

Although the Cross-Harbor tunnel terminal site is close to two major highways and existing rail, many access routes pass through residential neighborhoods. Based on the estimates of the rail tunnel's capacity, traffic to and from the site could reach thousands of truck trips per day. However, most of those trucks already travel through those highways to use the existing bridge connection.

Spokespersons for neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens strongly object to land being designated for a trans-shipment terminal or other railroad uses[14] and to the noise and vibration expected from passage of up to 1,600 rail cars per day.[15] Reacting to these criticisms, in March 2005 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he opposed the rail tunnel project.[16] However, in early July, 2007, Mayor Bloomberg told Rep. Nadler, he would be willing to take another look at the plan.[17]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ a b Gareth Mainwaring (2002). The development of the New York Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project. Hatch Mott Macdonald (Toronto, ON).
  2. ^ Christopher T. Baer, Ed. (Jun 2004). PRR Chronology. Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
  3. ^ Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (1993). HR 2784, New York Harbor Tunnel Act of 1993. Library of Congress.
  4. ^ Michael G. Carey, President (2000). Cross Harbor Freight Movement Major Investment Study. New York City Economic Development Corporation.
  5. ^ Marnie McGregor (July 29, 2005). Cross Harbor Tunnel receives significant funding in federal transportation bill. Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition.
  6. ^ Steve Anderson (2006). Holland Tunnel historic overview. Eastern Roads. The diameter of a two-lane tube for the Holland Tunnel is slightly less than the diameter for a tube with one rail line in a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, as shown in reference [1] (Mainwaring).
  7. ^ Jon Orcutt and Kate Slevin (May 17, 2004). Long-Awaited Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel Environmental Report Released. Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
  8. ^ Dredged Material Management Interagency Workgroup (February 5, 2003). Meeting Notes. NY/NJ Clean Ocean And Shore Trust.
  9. ^ Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project (2004). Brief History of Cross Harbor Rail. Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project.
  10. ^ Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project (2004). Frequently Asked Questions. Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project.
  11. ^ Marnie McGregor (February 2, 2006). The Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel. Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition.
  12. ^ Peter Samuel (September 29, 2004). New York harbor rail tunnel pushed with special truck toll tax. Toll Roads Newsletter.
  13. ^ Laura Stockstill (March 3, 2005). Planning Industrial Futures in West Maspeth. Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.
  14. ^ Rob McKay (September 30, 2004). Rally Rips Freight Tunnel Plan. Ridgewood Times Newsweekly (Queens, NY).
  15. ^ Leo King (December 6, 2004). Freight Lines: New Yorkers hear tunnel objections. National Corridors Initiative.
  16. ^ David Cargin (March 10, 2005). Mayor Bloomberg Opposes Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel. Queens Chronicle, Mid-Queens Edition.
  17. ^ Lisa L. Colangelo (July 10, 2007). Dig it! Bloomy waffles on tunnel. Daily News, City Hall Bureau.