Fulop Administration plans freight train line for Sixth Street Embankment
“The city council is moving forward with plans to use eminent domain to acquire the Sixth Street Embankment for freight rail, according to city documents.
Ordinance 14.103 would authorize “relevant City departments to file for, and to pursue, a federal eminent domain remedy… to acquire an unused portion of a line or railroad called the Harsimus Branch (Marin Blvd to CP Waldo) which contains the Sixth Street Embankment, a City Historic Landmark.”
Eminent domain would be administered by the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) through an Offer of Financial Assistance (OFA), whereby “a community may purchase on terms set by the STB a line or portion thereof interconnecting to the freight rail system for, as construed by STB, continued freight rail and other compatible public purposes” according to the resolution.
According to the SBT website, an Offer of Financial Assistance is for “those who would like to purchase the line and assume the common carrier obligation to provide service (contract or non-contract) over the line, or who would like to offer the carrier a subsidy to continue to provide the service.”
Hudson County View reported on September 3, 2014 that Jersey City Council President Rolando Lavarro requested a closed caucus special meeting to discuss legal issues surrounding the Sixth Street Embankment.”
Shurin, Michael. Hudson County View 5 September 2014.