PANYNJ opens ExpressRail intermodal facility

The GCT Bayonne ExpressRail Port Jersey opened for business yesterday at the Port of New York and New Jersey.

The intermodal facility's opening marks a milestone in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's (PANYNJ) five-year strategic goal to expand rail capacity for cargo destined for outside the region, authority officials said in a press release.

"With more than 75 percent of the vessels arriving in the Port of New York and New Jersey as their first call, an efficient rail cargo system can deliver cargo to an inland destination before the vessel reaches the next U.S. port, making our port a far more attractive destination for shippers," said PANYNJ Chairman Kevin O'Toole.

The new facility features four tracks designed for active loading and unloading of cargo from the Global Container Terminals (GCT) Bayonne terminal. The tracks connect to a lead track that provides access to CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway lines.

The facility also sports two high-efficiency, all-electric, wide-span gantry cranes and LED lighting for loading and unloading containers in the yard.

By mid-year, the facility will be fully built out to 9,600 feet of an eight-track working pad, two lead tracks, as well as additional support and train storage track, PANYNJ officials said.

GCT USA began a terminal expansion at the port in 2009. ExpressRail Port Jersey is the second milestone in the project. In 2014, a second berth was completed at GCT Bayonne, featuring two super post-Panamax cranes and 20 semi-automated rail-mounted gantry cranes supported by advanced operating systems.

The facility is part of a $600 million PANYNJ capital investment program dating back to the 1990s that established direct rail access to on-dock and near-dock intermodal rail services at all of its major marine terminals.