Selkirk hurdle

The Selkirk Hurdle is the term used by urban planners, railroad employees, politicians and others to describe the route that must be taken by freight trains traveling between New York City or other points in downstate New York and points in the United States west of the Hudson River. Because there are no freight crossings of the Hudson River south of Selkirk (10 miles (16 km) south of Albany), trains from New York City must travel 140 miles (225 km) north to cross at Selkirk before continuing on their way. [ [http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F50711FA385F0C778CDDAC0894DE484D81 "USING BARGES TO REVIVE A RAIL ROUTE"] , "The New York Times", May 4, 1986. Accessed January 3, 2008. "That is because in recent years virtually all rail traffic between Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, at one end, and points south, at the other, has traveled over the "Selkirk Hurdle," a 280-mile (450 km) loop that extends up the east shore of the Hudson River to a bridge at Selkirk, N.Y., near Albany, then down the west side of the river."] As a result of this detour and the inefficiencies that result, New York City is forced to rely more heavily on relatively inefficient 18-wheeler and other trucks than most parts of the United States, where freight trains are more common.

The Selkirk Hurdle has existed since a 1974 fire of suspicious origins eliminated service across a railroad bridge at Poughkeepsie [ [http://piercehaviland.com/rail/beacon.html The Beacon Line by Pierce Haviland] ] and the gradual reduction of rail float operations across New York Harbor. Although the bridge at Poughkeepsie (85 miles (137 km)) north of New York) still stands, the rails have been removed and there is now no service across it.

Eliminating the Selkirk Hurdle is the primary objective of the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel proposed to span the Upper New York Bay between Brooklyn and either Jersey City, New Jersey or Staten Island. [ [http://www.crossharborstudy.com/railMap.htm Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project Maps] ] This is not the case with the proposal to include commuter rail tracks on the Tappan Zee Bridge when the bridge is rebuilt in the coming years. [ [http://www.tzbsite.com/alternatives/alternative4a.html Tappan Zee Bridge Environmental Review: Alternative 4A] ] However, the possibility does exist that freight trains could use such tracks, if they were to be built according to certain specificiations, during the wee hours of the morning or other times when commuter traffic is light.

In absence of the bridges and tunnel described above, the only alternative to the Selkirk Hurdle is for rail cars to be floated across the Upper New York Bay, an operation run until 2006 by the New York Cross Harbor Railroad, and now by New York New Jersey Rail LLC. As trucking has become more prevalent, rail float operations across the bay have dwindled over the years from 600,000 cars per year to 1,600 cars per year. [ [http://www.crossharborstudy.com/deisDocument/Chapter01/Chapter01-Purpose.pdf Cross Harbor Freight Movement Draft Environmental Impact Statement, p. 1-2] ]

References

For further reading

* [http://www.crossharborstudy.com/ Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project]
* [http://www.moveny.org/ Move NY & NJ: The Cross Harbor Tunnel Coalition]
* [http://www.tzbsite.com/index.html Tappan Zee Bridge Environmental Review]