Old Train Car Placed Off Long Island Coast To Make Artificial Reef

A rail car and a tugboat have been lowered to the ocean floor off the coast of Long Island, with more recycled materials to join them, as part of a state initiative to recreate lost coral reefs to bolster a more diverse underwater ecosystem, local sport fishing and diving.

A video of the launch of the rail car being pushed into the water off Long Island to help reconstruct the Hempstead Reef.

Photo Credit: New York State

A rail car being pushed into the water off Long Island to help reconstruct the Hempstead Reef.
Photo Credit: *Provided*

Christina Coulter

09/16/2020 3:45 p.m.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the sinking of the vessels, including one of 75 rail cars donated by Wells Fargo Rail Corporation and 70-foot tugboat "Jane," on Wednesday, Sept. 16 off Hempstead Reef. Soon to join them on the sea floor are 15 more rail cars and a large steel turbine.

These materials were added to others, donated by the Department of Transportation, NYPA/Canal Corporation, the Thruway Authority, New York City Departmet of Transportation, and the Tutor-Perini Corporation over the past two years, including

4.5 million pounds of material from the old Mill Basin Drawbridge, including the former drawbridge's gatehouse building, Pier 7, bridge support concrete, other decommissioned drawbridge buildings, and concrete barriers
Forty-seven concrete-filled steel caissons, measuring up to 34 feet in length, that once supported the original City Island Bridge
Two decommissioned Erie Canal vessels, one 115 ft long and the other 75 feet
Two large NYPA turbine runners totaling 140 tons
Four DOT bridge trusses
Three barges of material from the demolished Tappan Zee Bridge, including concrete decking, bridge supports, and pipe piles

This is the third year of New York's artificial reef expansion program, part of Cuomo's NY Open for Fishing and Hunting initiative, with the Hempstead Reef being its most recent project.

As a part of the program, Cuomo said that recycled materials will be used to double New York's existing reef acreage, expanding seven of 12 existing reefs and creating four new artificial reefs around Long Island and in the Atlantic Ocean.

"This expansion of the state's artificial reef program is a testament to New York's unwavering commitment to environmental preservation and restoration in the absence of federal leadership that continues to jeopardize the health of vulnerable ecosystems," Cuomo said. "With this rail car and tugboat drop at Hempstead Reef, we continue to build on our efforts to energize local economies and build a healthier marine environment for future generations."

More than 500,000 anglers in the region will reap the benefits of the artificial reef expansion, said Cuomo, as will the region's marine economy, which accounts for approximately 9.7 percent of Long Island's total GDP.

Once recycled materials like metal or concrete settle to the ocean floor, blackfish, black sea bass, cod and summer flounder build habitats within the new structures.

Organisms like barnacles, sponges, anemones, corals and mussels cling to the recycled material, which creates a reef-like structure over time.

In the past, materials for the reefs have bee donated by the State Department of Transportation, New York Power Authority/Canal Corporation and the Thruway Authority.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation maintains the state's 12 artificial reefs, which include two in the Long Island Sound, two in the Great South Bay and eight in the Atlantic Ocean.

Reef expansion through the initiative will continue until 2022.

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