Selkirk hurdle
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
or other points in downstate New York
Downstate New York
Downstate New York is a term denoting the southeastern portion of New York State, United States, in contrast to Upstate New York. The term "Downstate New York" has significantly less currency than its counterpart term "Upstate New York", and the Downstate region is often not regarded as one...
and points in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
west of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. Because there are no freight crossings of the Hudson River south of Selkirk
Selkirk, New York
Selkirk is a hamlet in the town of Bethlehem, Albany County, New York. It is located south of the city of Albany, it is an suburb of that city....
(10 miles (16 km) south of Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
), trains from New York City must travel 140 miles (225 km) north to cross at Selkirk before continuing on their way. As a result of this detour and the inefficiencies that result, New York City is forced to rely more heavily on relatively inefficient 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
Poughkeepsie Bridge
The Poughkeepsie Bridge is a steel cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Poughkeepsie, New York on the east bank and Highland, New York on the west bank...
at Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie (city), New York
Poughkeepsie is a city in the state of New York, United States, which serves as the county seat of Dutchess County. Poughkeepsie is located in the Hudson River Valley midway between New York City and Albany...
and the gradual reduction of rail float operations across New York Harbor
New York Harbor
New York Harbor refers to the waterways of the estuary near the mouth of the Hudson River that empty into New York Bay. It is one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Although the U.S. Board of Geographic Names does not use the term, New York Harbor has important historical, governmental,...
. Because of the height of the bridge at Poughkeepsie trains still had to travel west to Maybrook, NY and back. Although the bridge at Poughkeepsie (85 miles (137 km)) north of New York) still stands, the rails were removed in the late 20th century and it became a New York State park in 2009. To cross the Hudson trains must use the Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge
Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge
The Alfred H. Smith Memorial Bridge is a railroad bridge spanning the Hudson River at Castleton-on-Hudson and Selkirk, New York in the United States....
instead.
Eliminating the Selkirk Hurdle is the primary objective of the Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel
Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel
The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel is a proposed freight rail transport tunnel under Upper New York Bay in the Port of New York and New Jersey between northeastern New Jersey and Long Island, including southern and eastern New York City.-Background:Direct connections for rail freight between Long Island...
proposed to span the Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay
Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.It...
between Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
and either Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
or Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
. This is not the case with the proposal to include commuter rail tracks on the Tappan Zee Bridge
Tappan Zee Bridge
The Governor Malcolm Wilson Tappan Zee Bridge, usually referred to as Tappan Zee Bridge, is a cantilever bridge in New York over the Hudson River at one of its widest points; the Tappan Zee is named for an American Indian tribe from the area called "Tappan"; and zee being the Dutch word for "sea"....
when the bridge is rebuilt in the coming years. However, the possibility does exist that freight trains could use such tracks during the very early hours of the morning, and at other times when commuter traffic is light, if they were built according to certain specifications.
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
New York Cross Harbor Railroad
New York New Jersey Rail, LLC is a switching and terminal railroad that operates the only car float operation across New York Harbor between Jersey City, New Jersey and Brooklyn, New York...
, 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.