City Re-Opens Garbage Train

WNYC News | Jul 12, 2010

New York, NY —

After a 17-year hiatus, the city has re-activated a rail link that connects Staten Island to the national rail grid. The link, in addition to a special bridge, will allow garbage to be moved out of the city by train saving as many as a hundred thousand truck trips a year.

REPORTER: City Council Member Michael McMahon is from Staten Island and says the rail link will improve air quality for the borough's residents.

MCMAHON: From now on, garbage will be container-ized, it will be moved out inter-modally, and it means not only a giant leap for our city as a whole, but for so many individuals who have suffered from garbage injustice, if you will.

REPORTER: The cost of the rail link is $75 million and is being shared by the city and the Port Authority.

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