Harbor: Development of Alameda Corridor

Our goal, and that of the Port of Los Angeles, has always been and continues to be the development of the Alameda Corridor.

After almost three years of negotiations, we recently finalized our agreement to purchase Southern Pacific’s right of way between the ports and Downtown Los Angeles in order to consolidate the traffic from all three railroads onto this one rail corridor.

With an estimated development cost of $1.8 billion, the ports have committed to contribute $200 million each and issue bonds for another $600 million to be repaid through fees assessed on the cargo moving over the corridor.

Except possibly some railroad people, I know of no person who does not feel the economic and environmental benefits of this project would be immense. Along the three existing rail lines serving the ports, there are currently 159 intersections where trains over a mile long block traffic. With the Alameda Corridor, there would be none. Thousands of trucks would be removed from the highways with many more containers being shifted to double-stack trains.

Although both Southern Pacific and Santa Fe have agreed to utilize the Alameda Corridor and pay the fees necessary to repay one-third of its cost, Union Pacific claims that such fees would put them out of the market. As our Port feels we cannot move forward without a use agreement from all three railroads, we feel we are at an impasse.

Union Pacific’s offer to break this impasse is that the ports pay them a substantial sum of money to offset fees that either they and/or their customers would be expected to pay. Also, we recently learned that they were looking into plans to double-track their line, which runs through our city and into Los Angeles. Our port views this as being totally contrary to the Alameda Corridor concept, and we will join forces with our city to do whatever is required to prevent this expansion. While it is true that both ports have provided some funding for mitigation along UP’s line, they were always aware that these measures were considered interim only. Union Pacific had indeed committed to fully utilize the Alameda Corridor when completed, and we sincerely hope they will see the necessity of honoring these prior commitments.

DAVID L. HAUSER

Harbor Commissioner

Port of Long Beach