Washington poised to green light rail freight funding needs

(Yaphank, N.Y.) Rail freight, the most environmentally friendly means of transporting goods across the nation to Long Island, is getting crucial help as the Biden Administration considers new means of providing the funds needed to meet 21st Century challenges.

The White House is exploring the creation of a dedicated trust fund for the rail freight industry—a move that would strategically strengthen our nation’s investment towards ‘green’ transportation solutions. Unlike highway transportation, where the government channels funds from a designated trust fund supported by a per gallon tax on gasoline, the rail freight industry is primarily self-funded with limited government assistance.

“The problem with the national railway trust fund, of course, is that there isn’t a national railway trust fund,” wryly observed Pete Buttigieg, United States Secretary of Transportation during a recent appearance before the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials event. The Secretary said the time to institute such a trust fund is now, describing it as “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

Andrew Kaufman, President of the Brookhaven Rail Terminal (BRT) based in Yaphank, believes that the creation of a dedicated trust fund for America’s rail industry would be a strategic investment that would benefit the bi-county economy while addressing the need to reduce green house gases.

“Transporting goods by rail is the most efficient option we have” said Kaufman. “There is no other transportation modality with similar energy, safety, and environmental benefits. This kind of investment through a trust fund would be instrumental in assisting our environment and strengthening our transportation system.”

A 21st Century investment in rail

Transportation experts say instituting a rail industry trust fund would provide the nation with a sustained and predictable funding for its rail infrastructure. This would allow the rail industry to plan larger, long-term projects. Congress has provided this stability to other transportation assets for years, and some are starting to question why the rail industry does not have the same funding opportunity.

The transportation sector accounts for the largest contributions of greenhouse gases in the U.S. with the far majority of those gases stemming from cars and trucks. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, railroads account for 40% of U.S. freight transportation and a disproportionately small percentage of greenhouse gases—at just 2% of the sector’s emissions.

Brookhaven Rail Terminal is the first multi-modal rail freight facility on Long Island to provide rail based shipping. Despite its size, less than two percent of freight is delivered to Long Island by rail as compared to 19 percent in the nine northeastern states. BRT is determined to change those statistics for one of the most dynamic regions in the nation.