Ongoing construction of a rail tunnel at the Hudson Yards redevelopment site. | AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews Brooklyn councilman calls for a 'freight-capable' Gateway, setting off a political spat

If the feds and the states are going to spend billions of dollars to build a new, two-track tunnel under the Hudson River, they might as well make it accessible to both passenger and freight trains.

Or so goes an argument advanced by Councilman David Greenfield of Brooklyn, who, together with 12 other elected officials, has sent a letter to U.S. transportation secretary Anthony Foxx, Amtrak president Charles Moorman, and NJ Transit interim executive director Dennis Martin, arguing that the new Gateway tunnel should be “freight-capable.”


At least two of the signatories have since removed their name from the letter, which was circulated to the press on Tuesday, including Councilman Ben Kallos and State Sen. Diane Savino, who declined to comment. Kallos said he didn’t understand when he signed the letter that the press release pitted one proposal (making Gateway “freight-capable”) against another proposal, building a separate cross-harbor freight tunnel. The latter proposal is the pet project of U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who does not get along well with Greenfield.

“I signed it because I support any investment in infrastructure in the City of New York that will improve freight and make food less expensive, and I’m fairly agnostic as to whether that’s the cross-Harbor or Gateway or any of the other projects that we are trying to get funded,” said Kallos. “But I do not support one project over the other.”

Nadler has been advocating for a freight-specific tunnel beneath the harbor for decades. While Greenfield’s letter does not take explicit aim at the Nadler project, the accompanying press release does.

“Unfortunately, some bureaucrats would rather waste billions of dollars for a dedicated freight tunnel that will likely never materialize,” says Greenfield in his press release. “We need to add freight to this passenger tunnel so that we can save money and actually get it done.”

In an ensuing interview, Greenfield said any dispute among signatories was due to a mere “misunderstanding.”

“Maybe it’s generational, but I think we have to go with the best public policy ideas and push those and not be worried about some folks saying, ‘You stepped on my turf and I have an exclusive right to all transportation ideas,’” said Greenfield, in an apparent reference to Nadler. The congressman had no comment.

All that being said, some experts, though not all, support the substance of Greenfield’s proposal.

Earlier this year, the Port Authority, in its study of cross-harbor freight alternatives, dismissed the notion of making a cross-Hudson tunnel to accommodate both passenger and freight, saying it would "result in minimal windows for freight, at best."

In May, however, the Regional Plan Association submitted testimony to the federal transportation department and NJ Transit arguing for much the same thing, since ultimately — after the new two-track tunnel comes online, and the old two-track one gets repaired — there will be four tracks running under the river, not just two.

The association further argues that an expanded Penn Station — another element of the Gateway program — should allow for through-running, rather than serve as a terminus for the new tracks. Freight trains could then run through Manhattan to Queens with a connection to, say, the lower Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road.

“We don’t believe we should be building a tunnel just for people and a tunnel just for freight,” said Richard Barone, the association's vice president for transportation. “We think we should be building facilities that can do both. Money isn’t infinite.”

Greenfield and his compatriots agree.

“Trucks currently move more than 98% of freight in New York City. Our overreliance on truck traffic makes our air harder to breathe and our streets more difficult to navigate,” they wrote in their letter. “It overburdens our infrastructure and challenges our businesses’ ability to grow in place and create jobs locally. Now, with the first new Hudson River rail tunnel in more than a century visible on the horizon, we have never had a better occasion to fix an age old problem, one which has only worsened over time. “

None of the letter's recipients would comment for this article.

This story has been updated to note that State Sen. Diane Savino also removed her name from the letter.