Sanitation Districts Seek Trash-by-Rail Plans

At the request of a group of San Gabriel Valley cities, the county Sanitation Districts have invited private companies to submit proposals for hauling trash by rail from Los Angeles County to remote disposal sites.

Steve Maguin, head of the Sanitation Districts’ solid-waste management department, said the districts are willing to consider proposals that would serve any section of the county, take any amount of trash and haul it by rail to any disposal site. Companies are being asked to submit detailed cost estimates and financing plans.

Workable Alternative

The solicitation will help the districts and cities determine whether shipping trash by rail is a workable alternative to other disposal methods, such as expansion of existing dumps or the establishment of new dumps in the metropolitan area. Although a number of companies have expressed interest in developing waste-by-rail systems, Maguin said he does not know how many will submit proposals.

“I don’t know if we’re going to get two or three responses or 20,” he said.

Maguin said the acceptance of any proposal would be a starting point for implementing waste-by-rail. There are numerous environmental and political issues that would have to be resolved before trash trains could begin operation, he said.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 2 p.m. March 31. Maguin said the proposals will be analyzed by Sanitation Districts staff and representatives of the cities that would be served. Recommenda

tions should be ready by June, he said.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments conducted a study early this year for the San Gabriel Valley Assn. of Cities which concluded that loading trash on train cars for shipment to disposal sites in the desert is “a potential solution to the solid-waste disposal crisis projected for the 1990s.”

The report listed several places along rail lines in the San Gabriel Valley where trash could be loaded onto trains for transport to potential landfill sites in Kern, Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties.

The association of San Gabriel Valley cities asked the Sanitation Districts, which operate the Puente Hills and Spadra landfills, to become the lead agency in soliciting waste-by-rail proposals.

No Geographic Limits

Although the project originated in the San Gabriel Valley, Maguin said the Sanitation Districts are inviting proposals that would serve any area of the county. He said the districts did not want to limit responses by imposing geographic restrictions.

The districts are seeking proposals that include design, construction, financing and operation. A complete plan would have four components: stations where trash would be loaded onto trains, a rail transport system, unloading stations and disposal sites. The solicitation document says the districts prefer proposals with all four components but will accept proposals that address just one component or a combination of two or three.

Nearly all of the trash created in Los Angeles County is now sent to 10 landfills in the metropolitan area. Unless those dumps are enlarged, the county will have to find new dump sites or consider other waste disposal methods. According to the Sanitation Districts, the county could begin running out of landfill space as early as 1992.