CALIFORNIA's Port of Long Beach (POLB) will now cut rail congestion and get trucks off the road after a unanimous vote by the five harbour commissioners
CALIFORNIA's Port of Long Beach (POLB) will now cut rail congestion and get trucks off the road after a unanimous vote by the five harbour commissioners.
The POLB board has now approved Pier B on-dock rail, which involves reconfiguring existing rail facilities near the 710 Freeway.
The reconfiguration will eliminate a level crossing and allow 10,000-foot freight trains to directly connect to the on-dock rail facilities and the Alameda Corridor railway.
'Moving more cargo by rail reduces the number of trucks on the road,' said the port's executive director Mario Cordero in an article in the Long Beach Press Telegram. 'Each mile-long train can take as many as 750 trucks off the road.
'We began studying this project many years ago, and we are now proposing a project that will benefit the community with reduced truck traffic and cleaner air, and help to speed cargo to its destination.
'Containers will be moved to and from Pier B only on trains, with no truck operations at the new facility,' Mr Cordero said.
'Right now, rail operators at the port do not have the space to link train cars easily. Many trains leaving the port are now assembled on mainline tracks.
This limitation in capacity can result in cargo being trucked to the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility in West Long Beach or East Los Angeles rail yards, creating air pollution and traffic congestion, he said.
He said the Pier B project would bring relief, allowing mile-long trains and some even longer. 'Today, the Port of Long Beach's on-dock rail use has plateaued at 25 per cent. Our goal is to move 35 per cent of our containers via on-dock rail in the near term and eventually, 50 per cent to meet the goals identified in the Clean Air Action Plan.'