The Southern California’s five-member board unanimously voted to approve a project that involves reconfiguring, expanding and enhancing the existing Pier B rail facility near the 710 Freeway.
The Port of Long Beach’s board of harbor commissioners on Monday approved a long-in-development project that would situate a new on-dock rail facility at the port’s Pier B terminal.
The vote by the five-member board was unanimous and came after more than two hours of public testimony, mostly by members of organized labor groups that were supportive of the project.
The Port of Long Beach plans to reconfigure, expand and enhance the existing Pier B rail facility located near the 710 Freeway to support more efficient use of “on-dock” rail at shipping terminals, which is expected to in turn ease roadway traffic congestion and improve air quality.
The existing Pier B rail facility serves as a storage and staging area for trains and is a critical juncture in the port’s rail network. The facility is primarily used by Pacific Harbor Line (PHL), which provides rail dispatching and switching services at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.
Excluding intermodal traffic, PHL handles about 40,000 carloads of freight a year.
The Pier B Rail Yard is an important component of overall goods movement handling within the POLB because it’s the only rail-serving facility within the port complex that can assist on-dock terminals with the task of assembling trains and dispatching them onto the Alameda Corridor and then, subsequently, to the Class I railroad main lines. Demand for container handling has been increasing over time and is expected to continue to do so, according to the port.
The planned reconfiguration and expansion would enhance the existing facility in a number of ways, including improving roadway traffic flow to enhance motorist and rail safety by eliminating an existing railroad crossing, and reconfiguring existing tracks and add additional tracks to allow trains up to 10,000 feet long to directly connect to the on-dock rail facilities and the Alameda Corridor railway.
The port would also potentially acquire additional land to the north of the Pier B rail facility to provide for additional rail car storage and staging.
“We need to enhance our rail capability,” Port of Long Beach Executive Director Mario Cordero said prior to the vote. “Enhancing this project is a chance to create jobs here in this community and support international trade.
“The cargo trains will minimize traffic and congestion,” Cordero continued. “As we look at this project, we are looking with regard to how important it is to this port to continue to reduce, and at some point, eliminate emissions. Twenty-five percent of our containers go on-dock. Our capability to further enhance on-dock is key. Providing the opportunity with this project to enhance our staging facility by way of Pier B, I think it goes a long way in making sure we are competitive.”
Currently, longer trains at the facility must be broken down into smaller units to have them loaded via on-dock. Because there currently is no space within the port complex that can handle the assembly/disassembly of the longer trains, this function currently consumes track space at varying locations in the port, including the use of main line tracks.
The $822 million on-dock rail project, which currently doesn’t have a timeline for completion attached to it, is expected to largely alleviate the space problem.
“This is a huge economic benefit for the Port of Long Beach and it’s going to be a fantastic thing for the city and for the port,” Pacific Harbor Line President Otis Cliatt said. “It has wonderful economic and environmental benefits that go along with it. This is a win-win for all.”