65th Street Railyard reopens, adding train link to mainland
Very little freight is shipped by rail to New York City because there is no direct rail connection across the Hudson River to mainland America.
Those freight trains that do arrive from points west must proceed up the West Shore Line to Selkirk, N.Y., 145 miles north of New York City, where there’s a bridge to cross, then travel back down.
What rail enthusiasts desire — a cross-harbor freight tunnel from Brooklyn to Staten Island or New Jersey — is certainly years in the future, and may never be built.