A better picture would be of a LIRR passenger train crossing these tracks, but I settled for a couple of work trains (actually two trucks mounted on the tracks and driven backward). This is one of a handful of remaining grade crossings in New York City that cross streets open to regular traffic (I believe they are all concentrated in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island), located on Borden Avenue in Hunters Point, east of the Pulaski Bridge to Greenpoint, the big maroon thing in the background.
Once home to dozens of daily passenger runs when there were more stops in western Queens, there are only a few remaining run to Long Island City on weekdays, which these tracks serve, and service on the line through Maspeth, Glendale and Richmond Hill has been virtually eliminated, with most service now going through the Hunters Point station. LIC was a major passenger hub until 1910, when Penn Station opened.
12/5/12