The Townline Rail Terminal project is currently in a conceptual stage. This means it is still undergoing federal and local reviews required to identify and mitigate potential impacts. Final plans will conform to all regulatory requirements and will receive local public input.
Below you’ll find responses to some of the common questions or concerns about the Townline Rail Terminal proposal. If you have any further questions about the project, please feel free to reach out to us.
Project Scope
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Will other areas be trucking their waste to our local Waste-to-Energy Incinerator to be processed and removed via Townline Rail Terminal?
Long Island produces more than 2.6 million tons of municipal solid waste annually – it is unfeasible and unfair to suggest that one facility in some other community should bear the burden of Long Island’s entire solid waste disposal problem. Each town will need to deal with their own waste issues as they face the imminent closure of Brookhaven Landfill. This facility will service Huntington and Smithtown and is only designed to handle the needs of these two townships, not the needs of additional Long Island towns.
The current Huntington-Smithtown Waste-to-Energy Incinerator operates close to or at capacity and no additional waste can be processed there, dispelling the myth that additional volumes of trash will come into our area via truck. There are six active or proposed train transport facilities on Long Island, all of which would provide local solutions to managing ash and debris.
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How will this lessen trucks on the roads if goods are also being brought in on the train?
The materials imported will be aggregates, lumber and equipment for neighboring businesses. Some of these businesses are located on the same property as the rail terminal and will not need to be transported further. These materials arriving by train once a day rather than by individual long-haul trips will reduce truck volume on our Long Island roadways.
The number of trucks needed and miles traveled once the Brookhaven Landfill closes is difficult to estimate, but it is safe to say that it will increase from the current transport requirements. With a conservative estimate based on running materials to Brookhaven Landfill, Townline Rail Terminal could save 1,000,000 lane miles traveled by trucks transporting waste from and importing materials to the Kings Park Industrial area.
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Will this project be bringing incinerator ash into our neighborhood?
The reality is that the incinerator ash is already here, currently being trucked from our local facility located in Kings Park to Brookhaven Landfill and driven along residential areas to get to the Long Island Expressway. With Townline Rail Terminal, the ash would only be trucked for half a mile, staying within the industrial area and passing through no residential streets. It will then be brought inside a state of the art indoor facility to be transferred into an enclosed steel container before it continues transport off Long Island.
Waste-to-Enery facilities are highly regulated and the ash generated is not classified as a toxic material.
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Why Kings Park? What about the other rail projects?
While there are a few rail spurs permitted to transfer waste on Long Island, none are currently permitted or equipped to transfer incinerator ash waste. Other rail spur projects are being proposed, but they are just that – a proposal. Like Townline Rail Terminal they are all in the beginnings of their project planning and will face all the same challenges before they are approved and ready for development.
This waste is our waste. It is only fair to do what we can within our community to process our waste as best as possible. While this plan still requires us to pass our burden onto other communities that still accept these materials in landfills, we should at the very least choose a more ecological and economical method as we send it to someone else’s backyard rather than ours.
Community Impact
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Why will there be so many tracks and railcars if there’s only one planned train per weekday?
The average train will be pulling around 16 cars, but the maximum will not exceed 27 cars total.
By utilizing multiple tracks, Townline Rail Terminal will be able to have any outgoing railcars loaded and queued up to be connected to the locomotive when it arrives with incoming materials and empty railcar waste containers. The locomotive will disconnect the railcars at the terminal and move to an adjacent track with the pre-loaded railcar containers, where it will connect and depart with outgoing materials. The railcars themselves will not be loaded or unloaded until daytime operating hours.
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If this project will result in less trucks on the road, why is there still space included in the proposal layout for a fleet of trucks?
Although our proposal will result in fewer trucks on the road, moving incinerator ash by rail and providing rail service to local businesses will still require some use of trucks. We also utilize trucks for purposes not related to the proposed Townline Rail Terminal. Our proposed layout includes space for our fleet because our rail and non-rail operations will still require trucks that will need to be parked and serviced.
Environmental Impact
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What exactly is C&D debris?
C&D stands for Construction and Demolition debris, and consists of uncontaminated solid waste from construction, remodeling, repair and demolition of utilities, structures, roads, and land clearing. This can include brick, concrete or other masonry, soil and rock, wood and lumber, drywall or roofing materials, plumbing fixtures, electrical components and more.
Materials that are not considered C&D debris are: asbestos waste, garbage, corrugated container board, electrical fixtures containing hazardous liquids, fluorescent lights, carpeting, furniture, appliances, tires, drums, fuel tanks or containers greater than ten gallons in size of having more than one inch residue remaining on the bottom.
Any materials processed, shredded or pulverized beyond recognition would not be accepted.
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There’s still one more ashfill on Long Island, why can’t we send our ash there?
The Babylon ashfill takes a fraction of the amount of incinerator ash that the Brookhaven landfill accepts on an annual basis – because it only accepts ash from the Waste-To-Energy Facility local to Babylon – and is expected to hit its capacity within the next four years.
Waste Management
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Diesel truck or diesel train, what’s the difference?
While both vehicles are powered by diesel, trains are still vastly more economical than trucks. In addition to lessening the truck trips needed overall, diesel trains are 3-4 times more fuel efficient than diesel trucks on average. Switching to rail transport would lessen the volume of traffic congestion on the roads, that currently has vehicles spending more time in traffic and creating more emissions.
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How is this going to affect Long Island’s sole-source aquifer?
The sole-source aquifer is the primary reason why the Long Island Landfill Law was passed in 1983, because of the negative impact from landfilled municipal solid waste on our only source of freshwater. Storing incinerated ash and then transporting it in steel covered rail cars off Long Island will not have an impact on the aquifer.
If you have any further questions about the project please feel free to reach out to us.