The Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI) and New York State Senator Charles Fuschillo Call Upon State and Federal Officials to Bring Emergency Response Equipment and Gasoline to Long Island by Rail

NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI) and State Senator Charles Fuschillo, Chairman of the State Senate Transportation Committee, today called upon state and federal officials to bring in emergency response equipment, material and gasoline by rail, noting that the Brookhaven Rail Terminal just off the Long Island Expressway has the capability of handling thousands of tons of supplies for distribution to the region without incurring a heavy energy cost.

ABLI Executive Director Desmond Ryan stated, "In the hindsight of Hurricane Sandy the opening of this intermodal rail facility could not come at a better time. It has the means to welcome construction materials, cable and wire, large equipment, telephone poles, food and fuel that is so desperately needed and to do so without incurring a heavy energy cost or clogging key roads and key motor bridges. The railroad bridges are open, the infrastructure is in place to accept these loads and all that is missing is the awareness that there is an alternative to convoys of trucks coming through New Jersey, across New York City and into the hard hit bi-county area."

Andrew Kaufman of the Brookhaven Rail Terminal explained, "We always viewed the rail terminal as a state-of-the-art solution to a 21^st Century energy problem. However, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, with resulting gas lines, the need to ship emergency supplies in by truck and the challenge of moving tons of material in the shortest possible time to where help is needed most, this facility is now a strategic asset to the region's rebuilding efforts."

State Senator Charles Fuschillo, who also serves as chairman of the New York State Senate Committee on Transportation, is asking the state's Office of Emergency Management, FEMA and related agencies to look at the rail terminal as a transportation asset in the weeks and months to come.

"Before the arrival of Hurricane Sandy the playbook may have said that you bring in all your repair material by truck convoy or airlift. But no one I know is following a playbook anymore given the enormity of what we are facing and the need for maximum repairs in the shortest possible period of time," the Senator said.

SOURCE Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI)