ExpressRail is a network of on- or near-dock

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

s supporting

intermodal freight transport Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation (e.g., rail, ship, aircraft, and truck), without any handling of the freight itself when changing ...

at the major

container terminals A container port, container terminal, or intermodal terminal is a facility where Intermodal container, cargo containers are transshipment, transshipped between Intermodal freight transport, different transport vehicles, for onward transportati ...

of the

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York metropolitan area, New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the sy ...

. The development of dockside trackage and rail yards for

transloading Transloading, also known as cross-docking, is the process of transferring a shipment from one mode of transportation to another. It is most commonly employed when one mode cannot be used for the entire trip, such as when goods must be shipped in ...

has been overseen by the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

, which works in partnership with other public and private stakeholders. As of 2019, four ExpressRail facilities were in operation, with a total built capacity of 1.5 million lifts. Various switching and terminal railroads, including Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CRCX) on the Chemical Coast Secondary connect to the East Coast

rail freight Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons (International Union of Railways) hauled ...

network carriers

Norfolk Southern The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

(NS) and

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of track, it is the lead ...

(CSX). Overall, the entire Express Rail system handled 433,000 containers in 2012, about 12 percent of the port’s total container volume. In the year period ending October 2014 the total amount of TEUS of

Intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, or a freight container, (or simply "container") is a large metal crate designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode ...

s handled at the port included 391,596 rail lifts. Subsequent years have seen further increases in volume, rising to 646,000 lifts in 2018, and to 700,000 in 2020.

Terminals and operations

ExpressRail Elizabeth

The Elizabeth Marine Terminal (), located on

Newark Bay Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jerse ...

Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...

(PANYNJ) it is now operated and managed by subcontractor

Millennium Marine Rail ExpressRail is a network of on- or near-dock rail yards supporting intermodal freight transport at the major container terminals of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The development of dockside trackage and rail yards for transloading has bee ...

, a joint venture of Maher Terminals and

APM Terminals APM Terminals is a Port operator, port operating company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. A unit of Denmark, Danish Freight transport, shipping company Maersk's Transport and Logistics division. It manages container terminals and provides ...

, the major lessees and operators at the container terminal. The terminal consists of 18 tracks. It originates 2-4 trains a day seven days a week:

ExpressRail Newark

Port Newark A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

(), lies north of the Elizabeth Marine Terminal, on

in Newark, and handles containers and

roll-on/roll-off Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...

shipping of automobiles. The intermodal yard consists of two tracks for loading of containers. It originates CSX Q163 and L163 to Syracuse-DeWitt and terminates CSX Q114 and Q162 from Syracuse-DeWitt. In conjunction with installation of three new rail-specified, rubber-tired gantry cranes ExpressRail Newark is being expanded from two to four, doubling the rail track to 10,000 feet, and adding a new fly-over bridge. Work is expected to be completed in 2015. In addition to containers, Port Newark is a major import/export center of automobiles using

operation between ship and rail. The adjacent Doremus Avenue Auto Terminal I & II is owned by Conrail and serves CSX and NS trains. The yard occupies 87 acres and has ten unloading tracks and ten holding tracks to serve multilevel autorack cars.

ExpressRail Staten Island

Port Liberty New York at Howland Hook Marine Terminal () is located at the mouth of the Arthur Kill at

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

, a borough of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Its on-dock ExpressRail facility consists of seven tracks which connect to the adjacent Arlington Yard, from which trains travel over the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge to connect to the Chemical Coast line at Elizabeth. Staten Island does not originate or terminate trains, but cars from the terminal are attached onto other trains. The North Shore branch of the

Staten Island Railway The Staten Island Railway (SIR) is a rapid transit, railroad line in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Staten Island. It is owned by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA), a subsidiary of the Metropol ...

was originally opened in 1860 and was operated by the Baltimore and Ohio between

Cranford, New Jersey Cranford is a Township (New Jersey), township in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increas ...

and the Saint George Terminal. Passenger service on the North Shore Branch ended in 1953. In 1985, B&O successor CSX sold it to Delaware Otsego and rail freight service was continued until 1991. Freight service on the western North Shore Railroad right-of-way (ROW) at Howland Hook was revived in 2005. For the first time in 16 years a train crossed the bridge on October 4, 2006, a single locomotive which would take on switching duties. Rail at the marine terminal was reactivated in 2007 with the completion of the single-track Chemical Coast connector.

ExpressRail Port Jersey

CMA CGM operates the ExpressRail Port Jersey near-dock rail terminal at Port Jersey and serves the adjacent Port Liberty Bayonne semi-automated container terminal. Greenville Yard () is located on

Upper New York Bay New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay ...

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

at the border with

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

. It is served by New York New Jersey Rail to reach the National Docks Secondary to access the national rail network. The yard was originally part of the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

Hudson Waterfront The Hudson Waterfront is an urban area of northeastern New Jersey along the lower reaches of the Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay and the Kill van Kull. Though the term can specifically mean the shoreline, it is often used to mean the contig ...

operations. That operation is now New York New Jersey Rail, which operates the last remaining

car float A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of Lighter (barge), lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it i ...

operation in

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

. Freight cars are barged across the bay to the Bush Terminal Yard and the

65th Street Yard The 65th Street Yard, also Bay Ridge Rail Yard, is a rail yard on the Upper New York Bay in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, Sunset Park and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Equipped with two transfer bridges which allow rail cars to be loaded and unloaded onto car ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Since the 2010 takeover by the PANYNJ extensive work to improve the cross-harbor system has been undertaken, though it was set back due to the effects of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. PANYNJ broke ground on a $365 million improvement plan in December 2016. It opened in January 2019. It features 9,600 feet of working track, 32,000 feet of support track and switches, along with infrastructure to support dual cantilevered rail-mounted

gantry crane A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the wor ...

s. It will initially support 125,000 container lifts a year. The PANYNJ will also build two new rail-to-barge transfer bridges, purchase two new

barges, each with 18 rail car capacity, and buy four new ultra low emission locomotives, replacing antiquated units. Of the project’s $356 million cost, $320 million will be paid by the agency with the remainder coming from stakeholders. The

New Jersey Department of Transportation The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey, including maintaining and operating the state's highway and public road system, planning and developing transport ...

allocated more than $87 million for 2014-2017 fiscal budget for the project and other related work, including land acquisition. The first phase of the project, with four tracks and two gantry cranes, opened on January 7, 2019. The remainder of the project with four additional tracks was completed on June 17, 2019.

Funding

The project began with an initial investment of $600 million by the PANYNJ. As of 2014, the cargo facilities charge (CFC) was $9.80 for every 40-foot shipping container passing through the port. The charge replaced a user fee of $57.50 per container that used the rail system in March 2011. The intention was to encourage use by spreading and lowering the cost.

References

External links

Freight Rail Capacity and needs to Year 2040, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority
* {{Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority Port of New York and New Jersey Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Rail infrastructure in New Jersey Transportation in Hudson County, New Jersey Transportation in Essex County, New Jersey Transportation in Union County, New Jersey Transportation in Staten Island Conrail lines Norfolk Southern Railway lines CSX Transportation lines Staten Island Railway Rail freight transportation in New York City