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The New York & Atlantic Railway (NY&A) recently increased its residential and municipal waste business — and in the process, took trucks off the highway.

The short line hauls 1.7 million pounds of waste daily in sealed containers on extra-long flat cars. Trains move from the Varick Avenue transfer station in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to NY&A's Fresh Pond yard, where the short line interchanges with CSX Transportation. The Class I completes the 750-mile trip to a Virginia landfill.

Owned and operated by Waste Management Inc., the transfer station recently was redesigned to accommodate rail shipments. NY&A began test movements in late January and handled its first regular shipment in February. The waste previously was trucked to a Pennsylvania landfill; rail shipments are projected to eliminate 13,000 trucks annually.

"The diversion from truck to rail reduces greenhouse gases and other pollutants in the region," said NY&A President Paul Victor in a prepared statement. "This will save more than a half-million gallons of fuel over the next 10 years."

Owned by Anacostia & Pacific Co. Inc., NY&A has also been handling smaller shipments of waste and recyclables from other areas on Long Island and hopes to begin moving trash from other New York City boroughs as early as 2011, the short line said.