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Last week, the Port of New York and New Jersey's (PANYNJ) ExpressRail facility in Elizabeth, N.J., transported its 3 millionth container by rail.

The facility now has diverted about 5 million truck trips from highways since it opened in 1991, according to port authority estimates.

“Almost 20 years ago, this agency had the vision to begin investing in an on-dock rail system,” said PANYNJ Chairman Anthony Coscia in a prepared statement. “That investment is paying dividends today — enabling shippers to move their cargo to market efficiently, supporting port-related jobs and economic activity, and reducing the number of trucks on our local roads."

The port authority currently is investing $600 million to expand and upgrade its rail system, which includes other ExpressRail facilities in Newark, N.J., and Staten Island, N.Y. To be completed in 2012, the projects will expand the port’s annual rail capacity to 1.5 million containers.

This year, PANYNJ expects to complete a second lead track into ExpressRail Elizabeth to enable two trains to simultaneously arrive and depart, and an additional support track west of Corbin Street to marshal trains at a single location.

Last year, the port authority set an ExpressRail system record by transporting 377,827 containers, up about 6 percent compared with 2007’s total.