Waste Management Inc. is converting its transfer station in Queens, N.Y., to accommodate rail shipping and will more than double the facility’s capacity.

Waste Management of New York, a subsidiary of the Houston-based company, got approval from the state of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation to switch to rail container shipment at its facility in the Long Island City neighborhood of western Queens. The company currently exports residential waste by long-haul tractor trailer trucks, according to company spokesman George McGrath of McGrath Matter Associates, in an e-mail.

 The expanded facility will have capacity for 2,100 tons of waste per day, compared with 958 currently.  On an average the facility should receive an estimated 1,150 tons a day.

New York City required the expansion to meet potential post-holiday volumes, McGrath said. The city chose Waste Management in 2009 as a site for a rail-based transfer station to handle western Queens’ residential waste as part of its long-term solid waste plan.

Waste Management said switching to rail shipment of the waste will eliminate nearly 16,000 truck trips per year.