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6/10/2024
The Surface Transportation Board's (STB) Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) last week issued a final environmental assessment (EA) for the proposed construction and operation of Townline Rail Terminal LLC’s 5,000 feet of new rail line in Smithtown, New York.
The public comment period for the draft EA ended Feb. 5. The STB’s final EA is available here.
In November 2022, Townline filed a petition seeking the STB’s authorization for the construction and operation of a new, common- carrier rail line and associated switching and sidetrack in the Hamlet of Kings Park in Smithtown. CarlsonCorp Inc. established Townline in 2021 to be a common-carrier railroad. The proposed 5,000-foot line would connect and run parallel to the existing Long Island Rail Road mainline.
The proposed line would add two daily New York and Atlantic Railway (NYA) trains to the LIRR system five days a week. NYA is a short line that operates freight-rail service on the LIRR mainline in conjunction with LIRR passenger operations in New York’s Suffolk, Nassau, Kings and Queens counties. NYA operates more than 270 miles throughout the LIRR network and maintains selected sidings and tracks designated exclusively for freight service.
If the proposed rail line is authorized and implemented, Townline would interchange its rail traffic with NYA, which would then move commodities off Long Island by rail. According to Townline, the proposed rail line is needed to provide a rail option for transporting incinerator ash and construction and demolition debris off Long Island for customers located on the Carlson property and adjacent properties.