By Hank Russell
John Gleeson, the director of sales and marketing at New York & Atlantic (NY&A) Railway, spoke at the LIMBA (Long Island Metro Business Action) meeting in Commack on January 31 to discuss the importance of rail transportation, as well as the challenges today’s rail systems face.
With 61 employees, NY&A has a network of 270 route miles, operating in Long Island, Brooklyn, Queens and New York City with terminals in Brentwood, the Fresh Pond Yard in Queens, the Grand Avenue Rail Terminal on Maspeth and the Long Island City Rail Terminal in Queens. The railway transports aggregates, beverages, building materials, food products, lumber, paper, plastic, recyclables and waste. More specifically, Gleeson said, building materials include stone, cement and metal; food products include tomato sauce, food oils, rice and beer.
Thirteen locomotives are operated by NY&A. The company carries 32,000 carloads a year, “That’s the equivalent of taking 120,000 trucks off the road [annually],” Gleeson said. “That means eliminating a lot of [traffic] congestion, a lot of pollution and a lot of safety problems.”
Gleeson said rail transportation not only saves the environment, but money as well. “Every [customer] is happy with us because we save them money,” he said.
However, he said, the rail system is not without its problems. Gleeson said the rail cars have been susceptible to theft, with the offenders breaking into the cars to steal beer, which he said was “untenable.”
Marlon Taylor, NY&A’s president, also mentioned that the company does not operate on a dedicated line, but, rather, they share the railways with the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). “Being on a single track is tricky,” he said. “You have to [wait for the LIRR to] deal with unruly passengers, track problems and delays.”
Toby Carlson, the president of Carlson Corporation Townline Rail argued that commercial rail systems should use the three lines that run south of the main line. “If you used the three lines, you would have a bulletproof system,” he said. “Instead, you have a hodgepodge of [different modes of] transportation.”
The topic then veered into environmental issues. State Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) said possible groundwater contamination “is a concern” when it comes to rail construction projects.
Kevin Gershowitz, president of Gershow Recycling — which sponsored this meeting — said “the biggest arching issue” for those in attendance is “the difficulty of getting a permit” for a project or attorneys facing the same problems obtaining permits for their clients.
Another issue is NIMBYism. “[Long Islanders] say, ‘Everyone has the potential to grow, but don’t grow around me,’” Gershowitz said. “People are scared of industry and they should be.”
Townline Rail Terminal Vice President Les Poinelli said the company was facing pushback over its proposed project in Kings Park. “People are saying it’s 100 or 150 feet [setback from the residential areas], but it’s 500 feet, minimum,” he said. “There’s a lot of false information out there and people are running with it. They’re treating these falsehoods as facts.”
The issue about the eventual closure of the Brookhaven landfill also came up. Since no more waste can be accepted, only ash can be dropped off. Gleeson said he is “confident” that his company would handle any potential operations at the landfill and “we’re ready to do it.”
He did not give specifics as to what the plans would entail. “Depending on how big [the cap] gets, we’ll have to get a little creative. But we know a lot of people who are going to [provide] a solution to the landfill closing and we are ready to work with them on it.”