The Port of Long Beach has received a $14 million grant, in order to pay for the construction of a rail project. This will improve the efficiency, as well as reduce traffic congestion on local streets and freeways.
The grant has been issued by the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program, which helps pay for improvements to freight corridors across California using designated transportation funds from Senate Bill 1 and the National Highway Freight Program.
The Port will contribute the remaining $11 million for the $25 million project, which aims to increase operational efficiency, reduce delays by providing greater reliability for on-dock rail and decrease roadway congestion by shifting more containers to rail.
Moving goods by rail is four times more efficient than by truck, so this project would enhance our operational excellence and environmental sustainability.
Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach said.
The planned “Pier G and J Double Track Access Project” will add a new 9,000-foot departure track for trains serving four of Long Beach’s six container terminals. The project will enforce the utilisation of the on-dock rail yards at Piers G and J by enabling them to simultaneously handle arriving and departing trains. The project will also minimize conflict with on-dock rail operations of neighbour terminals and improve overall safety of the area.
Upon its completion, the project will expand on-dock rail usage by approximately 157,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo per annum, while reducing the need for 615 daily truck trips.
As a vital piece of the Port’s $1 billion rail infrastructure capital improvement program, the project will eliminate an existing congestion problem.
The project is scheduled to start construction by the end of 2019 and be completed by mid-2021.
