Harlem River Yards

Harlem River Yards
Car with solid waste containers being shunted at the Harlem River Yard
Facility information
Location	The Bronx, New York
Coordinates	40°48′12″N 73°55′30″W / 40.80333°N 73.92500°W / 40.80333; -73.92500
Constructed	1991
Land area	28 acres (intermodal facility) 96 acres (total)
Operator	Harlem River Yard Ventures
Rail information
Rail lines	Harlem Line
Rail gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Road information
Street access	Bruckner Expressway MD Expressway

Harlem River Yards (also known as Harlem River Yard) is a waterfront industrial property located in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It is operated by Harlem River Yard Ventures, part of the Galesi Group, under a 99-year lease with the State of New York signed in 1991.

The yard owes its name to the property's prior and current use as a freight rail yard. However, only a 28-acre portion of the site has been retained for intermodal rail use, with rail traffic to and from the yard limited to municipal solid waste shipment. Beginning in the late 1990s, Harlem River Yards has been the site of substantial commercial development, including a New York Post printing plant, a waste treatment plant, and a Federal Express distribution center.

Harlem River Yards was a 96-acre freight rail yard owned by the Penn Central Railroad. When the Penn Central went into bankruptcy in the 1970s, the State of New York condemned the rail yard and placed it under the stewardship of the state's Department of Transportation. The yards were a key component of New York's Full Freight Access Program, a multi-decade effort to create manufacturing jobs by modernizing rail freight transportation in New York City and Long Island. This project involved raising vertical clearance on the rail lines along the east shore of the Hudson River from the Albany area into New York City and Long Island to accommodate Trailer on Flatcar (TOFC) intermodal freight transport, and the construction of the Oak Point Link. However, efforts to develop an intermodal rail facility at Harlem River Yards were frustrated due to multiple factors, including a lack of commercial interest and shifting political priorities. The Oak Point Link finally opened in 1998, but connected to a small intermodal facility at Harlem River Yards which used a small 28-acre portion of the site.