Ports Agree to Buy Rights of Way for Alameda Corridor : Transit: Officials hope accord will accelerate project that is expected to create 10,000 construction jobs and make region’s two harbors the busiest in the world.

A proposed $1.8-billion rail and truck corridor touted as a major economic boon for the area moved closer to reality Thursday as the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach announced purchase plans for 20 miles of Southern Pacific right of way.

The $240-million purchase agreement comes four months after the fate of the so-called Alameda Corridor was cast in doubt by questions over the track’s price tag and related costs. At the time, the price for the property, stretching from the ports to Downtown Los Angeles, was $260 million.

*

Now, with an agreement in hand, officials hope to complete the sale by year’s end to facilitate a project they say will create 10,000 construction jobs, permanent employment for many thousands more workers and make the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports among the busiest in the world.

“This facility is going to be . . . the most important economic asset for Southern California over the next 30 years,” Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said at a news conference Thursday heralding the agreement with Southern Pacific.

The corridor, he said, will make the ports “the entryway for freight coming from the Pacific Rim into the United States. And by being able to load freight dockside onto trains--and have those trains literally travel throughout the country--there will be nobody in the world who can compete with us.”

Apart from its economic benefits, officials say, the corridor will provide environmental benefits because it will provide new traffic lanes and other improvements, such as grade crossings. The improvements will streamline cargo shipments, eliminate an estimated 15,000 hours of traffic delays per day for cars waiting at train crossings and ultimately improve air quality in the region at a time when both ports are readying billion-dollar expansions.

Long Beach Mayor Ernie Kell said: “No longer are we going have to choose between port expansion--which was starting to become an issue--and neighborhoods (over) the increased truck and train traffic.

“This will solve that problem well into the future,” Kell said.

Riordan estimated that under the agreement, the ports will save $80 million in costs they were facing only months ago during negotiations with Southern Pacific. In August, those talks came to a halt when the Los Angeles Harbor Commission raised questions about the property’s price and title to the right of way.

*

The commission’s action led to new talks with Southern Pacific. And those talks led not only to the lower purchase price, but a new agreement on the costs for the property’s cleanup. With estimates for the cleanup ranging from $7 million to $28 million, Southern Pacific has agreed to pay the first $15 million. The ports would pay the next $10 million, and the ports and railroad would then share the expense of any cleanup exceeding $25 million. Previously, the ports’ share of cleanup costs was expected to be higher.

In addition, the agreement calls for the ports and other agencies to pay $63 million for new freight service facilities--$47 million less than was previously sought by the railroad.

Although Los Angeles and Long Beach already share the nation’s busiest commercial harbor, the Alameda Corridor project has been touted as crucial to the ability of both ports to fend off new competition. Indeed, without some method of assuring speedier shipment of cargo throughout Southern California and the nation, both ports have worried they will forfeit a share of their multibillion-dollar import-export trade to competing facilities in Seattle and Tacoma.

Today, local trains travel as slowly as 5 m.p.h. on rail lines that cross other train tracks and roads--delaying cars and trains alike. Once complete, the corridor will allow the trains to move at 40 m.p.h. And because the trains will not be idling, officials expect to reduce emissions by 28%.

With the increased speed, trains also will be able to haul more goods. Last year, for instance, 100 million metric tons of goods passed through the ports. When the corridor is complete in the year 2000, it will increase to 125 million metric tons, officials estimate.

“If you’ve got goods tied up in harbors, it costs you money,” said Ray Remy, president of the L.A. Chamber of Commerce. “With the Alameda Corridor, you’re saving all the parties real dollars and it becomes a more attractive place to do business.”

Some transportation officials expressed concern about Southern Pacific’s $15-million contribution toward environmental cleanup.

“You really don’t know until you get down below and excavate--$15 million is an awfully small sum. If the toxicity emanates from use by Southern Pacific, they should be responsible for all of it,” said Jerry Epstein, a member of the California Transportation Commission. Moreover, even officials gleeful over the agreement acknowledged it does not resolve the project’s most nagging uncertainty: funding.

*

At last count, officials have identified only about 25%--or $535 million--of the project’s total cost from federal, state and local sources. And the lion’s share of that amount--$400 million--is coming from the two ports.

But officials hope the agreement will persuade federal officials to identify funds for the project. On Thursday, they noted, the Clinton Administration included the Alameda Corridor in a National Highway System plan whose roads will have top priority for billions of dollars of federal funds.

And Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Mike Keeley said the corridor’s innovations--and Southern California’s sagging economy--should help win support for the project in Washington.

“Clearly, there is going to be some will in Congress to do something for us,” Keeley said. “The question is can we muster and focus the political resources to make it happen?”

Times staff writer William J. Eaton in Washington contributed to this story.

Alameda Project An agreement was reached Thursday to purchase 20 miles of Southern Pacific property for the $1.8-billion Alameda Corridor. The long-debated rail-and-truck project is designated to speed cargo shipments throughout Southern California and the country. The transportation line will run between the Civic Center and the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach.