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Types of freight movement and potential for rail and marine transport in NYC
0:48:17
ยท
4 min
Commissioner Aggarwala explains the three types of freight movement in NYC: transit through the city, goods destined for NYC distribution centers, and last-mile delivery. He discusses the challenges and potential solutions for each type.
- Transit freight serving Long Island and New England
- Freight destined for NYC distribution centers, often lacking direct rail access
- Last-mile delivery within the city
- Potential for the Indirect Source Rule to encourage a shift to rail freight
- Challenges in increasing rail usage for goods ending up in NYC
Rohit Aggarwala
0:48:17
Alright.
0:48:18
Thank you.
0:48:18
And as I said, I'll ask Don to say a bit more specifically about delivering green.
0:48:24
I think the there are really you mentioned two types of freight and I think we really have to think about three types of freight.
0:48:33
Good.
0:48:33
Let's There is freight that transits the city.
0:48:36
Right.
0:48:36
Right?
0:48:37
Particularly serving Long Island and what goes from the bulk of The United States into New England, some of which crosses the George Washington Bridge and and the Bronx.
Jim Gennaro
0:48:47
Right.
0:48:47
Because after all, I mean, like like There's some of that.
0:48:49
We think about Nassau and Suffolk County as like backwaters or whatever, but it's more than 3,000,000 people live there.
Rohit Aggarwala
0:48:55
It is.
0:48:55
So it's than us.
0:48:56
So Yeah.
0:48:57
So it stands to reason that actually though, a greater percentage of the, say, 18 wheeler type traffic Right.
0:49:03
That's in New York City is actually bringing the goods to those distribution and other warehouses that are in New York City.
0:49:11
Right?
0:49:12
And one of the
Jim Gennaro
0:49:13
reasons I mean, don't know that some are passing through the city, Others are going, and and you've I'm sure have a better handle on this than I do.
Rohit Aggarwala
0:49:24
And and one of the issues there is that many of the distribution centers that we have don't have the direct rail access or the access to them by rail is highly circuitous.
0:49:34
You know, much of our much of our freight actually stops in Pennsylvania or New Jersey where in some cases it gets off a train and gets put on that 18 wheeler to come to Brooklyn or Queens or or whatever.
0:49:47
Right?
0:49:47
And that's the second.
0:49:48
And then as you point out, the third is the last mile delivery that's that's been broken up.
0:49:53
The reality is the first one is more difficult for us to tackle.
0:49:57
Right?
0:49:58
The through traffic really is about the overall economics of the rail freight industry and the facilities that are in other places that we don't control, whether it's out on Long Island or elsewhere.
0:50:10
And as I as I said earlier, I think one of the biggest tools we have to encourage a shift to rail freight is something like the indirect source rule.
0:50:20
Because if that warehouse has to think about the total environmental impact of both what it's bringing in and what it's sending out, then it will be forced to take seriously what it can do to make something like rail deliveries work.
0:50:35
So that that would be my argument again for why I think the the kind of tool we have in ISR is so important.
0:50:41
It is the push that we need because the pull is difficult.
Jim Gennaro
0:50:45
I I I I certainly would agree that, you know, when it comes to, you know, goods that end up in New York City, I think rail would, you know, has difficulties.
0:51:01
But that percentage, whatever it is, that is passing through New York City, I think that's an opportunity for rail, and I do know a little bit about that.
0:51:13
And so and I I I don't know what what what what you know, percentage of the pie chart, you know, would be, you know, 18 wheeler trucks just going through New York City.
0:51:29
I don't know if anybody has a handle on that.
0:51:31
Do we have a handle on that?
Rohit Aggarwala
0:51:32
I'm sure it's knowable.
0:51:34
I do not know it off the top of my
Jim Gennaro
0:51:35
head.
0:51:35
Right.
0:51:36
Yeah.
0:51:37
Because I I I think that's something that we can get at through a more robust attention to what we can do to induce rail freight.
0:51:47
But I certainly admit that when it comes to, you know, going all over the city in these various localities, I don't really it's certainly more of a challenge for for rail to do that, certainly.
0:52:03
Hence, the indirect source rule and everything else that we wanna do.
0:52:07
And so did you did you wanna talk did you wanna I I'm talking for this?
Rohit Aggarwala
0:52:11
I I think there's you know, we've I I mentioned a number of things in my testimony where we are doing work, and and I think if if it's okay with you, let's let's get the briefing directly with you and we can talk about what more might be done on rail.