Commotion over Lindenhurst freight activity

A group of Lindenhurst residents say a rail company is creating unwanted noise and a dangerous situation in their neighborhood by moving freight at night and on weekends, violating what they say was a verbal agreement not to do so.

The rail company denies there was such an agreement.

The residents live near a rail spur, a branch track off a central rail line, that parallels North Queens Avenue. It's been used since 2008 by New York & Atlantic Railway, which leases the tracks from the Long Island Rail Road for transporting freight.

While local officials say the railway agreed to limit activity on the spur to weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., residents claim deliveries to the three companies using the track occur overnight and on weekends.

"They are thumbing their nose at everybody," said resident John Lisi. "We're just asking for these people to stick to their agreement."

Railway president Paul Victor said he never promised to limit activity to that window of time because the LIRR restricts when he can use the central line that leads to the spur. Residents "might not know what train is whose or what it's doing because the line is in service 24/7," Victor said. "In general, 95 percent of the activity would not be us."

LIRR spokesman Sal Arena said the LIRR "infrequently" uses the central line -- which runs from Hicksville to Babylon -- mostly around rush hour times, and as an alternate during track work programs and other service disruptions. "The NY&A can move freight at any time as long as it makes prior notification and does not interfere with the LIRR's commuter train schedule," Arena said in a statement. The LIRR's freight request records were not immediately available.

Lindenhurst Village Mayor Thomas Brennan also cited numerous complaints that crossing gates on Grand Avenue remain down as long as 20 minutes during spur activity, creating long backups and leaving emergency vehicles unable to get through the intersection.

The 785-foot spur, dormant since the 1980s, was reactivated in 2008 in a deal with Roberto Nicolia, chief executive of Nicolia Industries Inc. Two of his subsidiaries, along with One World Recycling Inc., use the spur. The state Department of Transportation used property owned by Nicolia to build a flood-relief basin and the spur was reactivated for his companies, said Gordon Canary, district office manager for state Sen. Owen Johnson (R-West Babylon). Canary and Brennan said the railway made the verbal agreement at that time to limit activity on the spur to the daytime.

Victor said he has been "going out of my way" to keep activity to daytime hours, which he said is "inconvenient" because companies want night deliveries. He said he has made night deliveries or pickups at the spur twice in the past six months.

Brennan disputed that based on complaints he has received, including one recently about a pickup at 11:30 p.m. from One World. One World did not return calls seeking comment. Nicolia said he doesn't have nighttime deliveries.

"It's a game," Brennan said. "One says it's not us and the other says it's not us, and we're the ones stuck in the middle."