Decline of Rail Traffic
As soon as the new bridge opened, rail traffic over the route began to decline due to major manufacturing facilities on Staten Island closing. Bethlehem Steel closed in 1960, U.S. Gypsum in 1972, U.S. Lines-Howland Hook Marine Terminal in 1986, and Procter and Gamble in 1991. A shift to truck traffic also caused a substantial decline of rail traffic over the bridge, and the North Shore branch of rail service went through a series of owners. The three companies that owned the North Branch were B&O Railroad, CSX and the Delaware Otsego Corporation. They saw the bridge as an excess property. The last freight train went over the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge in 1991, at which time the North Shore branch of rail service was terminated until service resumed in 2007.
Read more about this topic: Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge
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