NEW YORK (July 26) — Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada’s second-largest railroad, quietly commenced regular freight service to New York City earlier this month, a long-sought market the company hopes will boost its fortunes in the Northeastern U.S.

CPR is offering weekday service between Saratoga Springs and the Bronx, N.Y., with connections to major cities via its own track network and through agreements arising out of the purchase of Conrail assets by CSX and Norfolk Southern.

Trains operate below Albany with trackage rights over CSX, reaching customers in the Bronx (including Hunts Point Terminal), Brooklyn, and Queens, and in Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. CPR also has trackage rights to serve a future intermodal terminal at Harlem River Yard in the Bronx.

New York City is also connected to CPR’s 15,000-mile network of track connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and reaching directly into Chicago.

CPR’s service marks the first time since the creation of the Penn Central Railroad in 1968 that New York City has been served by two major Class I railroads.

The railroad said it would pursue opportunities to haul newsprint, lumber, flour, canned goods, frozen and fresh produce, wine and beer, rail transit equipment, plastic resins, scrap metal, recycled paper, and waste.

CPR said it was also studying the feasibility of launching its “Expressway” roll-on/roll-off intermodal truck trailer service, previously known as Iron Highway, into New York City.