Pataki, Bloomberg break ground for N.Y.-N.J. ship-to-rail facility

Pataki, Bloomberg break ground for N.Y.-N.J. ship-to-rail facility Wielding silver-laminated spades in a dirt field, New York Gov. George E. Pataki and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg broke ground Thursday for a new ship-to-rail cargo transfer facility at the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island's Howland Hook.
   Pataki and Bloomberg, who have had their political differences recently, remained congenial on and off the speakers' platform. Legislators from the New York State Assembly in Albany occupied front-row seats.
   The new $26 million ExpressRail Staten Island will allow the terminal to transport containerized cargo on and off its property by rail for the first time.
   The five-track facility will be linked to the reactivated, eight-mile-long Staten Island Railroad. Containers will be loaded onto double-stack rail cars and transported via the Staten Island Railroad to Conrail's main line in Elizabeth, N.J.    The Conrail line connects to the nation's extensive rail freight network.
   In addition to the construction of the facility, the Arthur Kill railroad lift bridge is being rehabilitated. In addition to carrying containers from the New York Container Terminal, the Staten Island Railroad will provide direct rail service between the Travis Branch Line, which runs along Staten Island's western shore, and the national rail freight network.
   ExpressRail Staten Island will be built by the Railroad Construction Co. Inc. of New Jersey, on a 39-acre parcel that's part of a former Procter & Gamble site purchased by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 2000. That site adjoins the New York Container Terminal. When completed in the first quarter of 2006, the ship-to-rail facility will be able to handle approximately 100,000 containers a year.
   'This project will take significant numbers of trucks off the road, which will improve air quality,' Pataki said.
   'This new facility is a critical link in our efforts to alleviate choking traffic congestion in this area by moving more freight and refuse by rail,' Bloomberg said.
   Anthony R. Coscia, port authority chairman, noted the facility was 'an important component of our 10-year strategic plan. We must continue to make this an attractive place to do business.'
   Richard J. Codey, acting governor of New Jersey, did not attend the groundbreaking.