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Yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to divert about 1,000 trash trucks per day from state roads by building a barge-to-rail facility at Conrail’s Greenville Yards in Jersey City.

The facility, which could become fully operational by 2013, would eliminate 15 million vehicle miles traveled in New Jersey, replace up to 360,000 open trash trucks with sealed containers moving via rail, cut the cost of highway maintenance and “significantly reduce harmful air pollutants,” Christie said in a prepared statement.

Currently, the majority of New York City’s trash is trucked through the port authority’s Hudson River crossings in unsealed open-topped containers and transported on New Jersey roads. To establish the barge-to-rail facility, the authority needs to make improvements to decades-old track and infrastructure, and finalize a land purchase deal, said Christie.

Track in Greenville Yard connects with CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway. Sealed container shipments would add only one train per day to the state’s freight-rail system, said Christie.

“The port authority can act immediately by completing its purchase of this land, investing the resources needed to build a first-class operation, and moving waste off our roads and onto rail in sealed, safe containers,” he said.