Port of Long Beach Okays $870M On-Dock Rail Site

The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners approved an $870 million budget for a new on-dock rail facility that could eventually put up to half of the port’s container volumes on rails.

The Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility would be able to assemble mile-long trains to put half of the port’s container volumes on rails. This will not only move containers more efficiently, it will help meet increasingly stringent environmental goals.

“Moving more cargo by train helps our marine terminals transfer cargo faster,” said Harbor Commissioners President Tracy Egoscue of the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility. “At the same time, it helps us make progress toward the environmental goals the Commission set in the Clean Air Action Plan and continue to lead the industry on sustainable operations.”

A 1-mile-long train can take as many as 750 trucks off the roadways.

Currently, the ability to build long trains at the Port of Long Beach is limited due to the lack of adequate yard tracks and configuration of mainline tracks. The Pier B facility would provide track space to join together sections of trains assembled at terminals.

(more on Port of Long Beach rail expansion . . . )