Railroad veteran Marlon Taylor appointed president of New York & Atlantic Railway

Marlon Taylor, a 25-year veteran of the railroad business, has been named president of the New York & Atlantic Railway, Long Island’s primary rail freight operator.

Taylor, 50, of Lynbrook, took the job earlier this week, succeeding James Bonner, who had led the freight transportation company since 2016. The company, which operates on 269 miles of track serving the island, Queens and Brooklyn, is owned by parent company Anacostia Rail Holdings of Chicago.

“Marlon has become an integral part of the NYA team since joining the railroad in 2016,” said Bruce A. Lieberman, Anacostia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer, in a statement.

“We couldn’t have had a better candidate to continue building on NYA’s success,” Lieberman said. “The railroad is in its best financial and physical shape ever and has a team of unmatched professional railroaders.”

Taylor began his career in the railroad industry in 1999 with the Pacific Harbor Line in Wilmington, Calif., a sister company of NYA that is also part of Anacostia. One of his first jobs with the railroad was working as a conductor on freight trains, he said.

He climbed the corporate ladder until he left Pacific Harbor as operations manager in 2016. That same year, Taylor started as assistant vice president of the local railroad company.

“My goal is not to overturn everything,” Taylor said. “We’ve done a lot of good things, and my job is to continue that trend of growth, safety and service.”

One of his biggest goals for the NYA is to educate the public about the benefits of rail freight over trucking, he said.

“It starts with education and awareness,” he said. “How do we inform more people about the benefits we offer for the environment and transportation?”

“People don’t know, so they don’t work with us,” Taylor said.

Transporting goods by rail takes the pressure off the roads from gasoline-powered trucks, which reduces emissions, Taylor said. It also makes the transport of bulk goods such as rice, grain and gravel more efficient.

The New York & Atlantic Railway, which took over freight operations from the Long Island Rail Road in 1997, initially transported about 10,000 carloads of goods to and from the island each year. Today, the company transports an average of 32,000 carloads annually and is growing at a rate of about 5% per year.

NYA’s local customers include Winters Bros., Gershow Recycling and Paraco Gas.

According to the Washington, D.C.-based Association of American Railroads, each trainload of freight carried by the New York & Atlantic holds the equivalent of about four truckloads. According to NYA, the railroad saves an average of 128,000 truck trips on major highways each year.

“We will continue to do a good job and be a good steward,” Taylor said.