Brookhaven Rail Terminal Standing By to Help Long Island

Tropical Storm Isaias has come and gone, but the cleanup from the damage in its aftermath is just beginning. Homeowners will clean up their properties, municipalities will haul the debris left at the curbside away but how will the thousands of tons which litter Long Island streets, lawns and backyards be permanently disposed of?

Andrew Kaufman, President of the Brookhaven Rail Terminal in Yaphank says BRT is standing by ready to load hundreds of commercial freight cars which each can carry more than five times what a single tractor trailer truck can off of Long Island as the recovery from the devastation begins.

Experts say the destruction caused by Isaias will leave behind amounts of debris approaching that of Super Storm Sandy. Officials estimate that Sandy created more than 10 million cubic yards of debris— enough to fill Citi Feld or Yankee Stadium more than four times. In 2012, in the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy, Nassau County contractors and county workers handled more than 800,000 cubic yards of debris, a cubic yard is about the size of a dishwasher.

Kaufman says, “Sandy taught Long Island that recovery and cleanup in the aftermath of the Super Storm was an unmanageable challenge, we need to learn from our experience of eight years ago and realize that we cannot load up trucks which will slowly and inefficiently move the tons of debris off of Long Island. Freight trains which run more than thirty cars per train each capable of hauling more than five times the amount of a tractor trailer will prove more expedient to the incredible clean-up efforts which lie before us. Trains departing the Brookhaven Rail Terminal will be more efficient, economical and environmentally friendly than repeating the mistakes of Sandy.”