Alameda Corridor
Encyclopedia
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to the ports of Los Angeles
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A, is a port complex that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately south of downtown...
and Long Beach
Port of Long Beach
The Port of Long Beach, also known as Long Beach’s Harbor Department, is the 2nd busiest container port in the USA. It adjoins the separate Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for U.S.-Asian trade, the port occupies of land with of waterfront in the city of Long Beach, California...
, running parallel to Alameda Street. The corridor is considered to be one of the main transportation projects in the past 20 years.
Description
The project is notable for its "Mid-Corridor Trench", a below-ground, triple-tracked rail line that is 10 miles (16 km) long, 33 feet (10 m) deep and 50 feet wide (15 m), shared by the BNSF RailwayBNSF Railway
The BNSF Railway is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. It is one of seven North American Class I railroads and the second largest freight railroad network in North America, second only to the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary...
and Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
via trackage rights
Trackage rights
Trackage rights , running rights or running powers is an agreement whereby a railway company has the right to run its trains on tracks owned by another railway company....
. The Alameda Corridor allows trains to bypass 90 miles (145 km) of early 20th century branch lines and the Santa Fe's historic Harbor Subdivision along a high-speed grade-separated corridor (mainly built on the alignment of a former SP line), avoiding more than 200 at-grade railroad crossings where cars and trucks previously had to wait for long freight trains to slowly pass. Many of those same rail lines were inadequately protected with little more than "wigwag"
Wigwag (railroad)
Wigwag is the nickname given to a type of railroad grade crossing signal once common in North America, named for the pendulum-like motion it used to signal the approach of a train...
crossing signals dating from the original construction of the lines. One important use of the corridor is to take cargo containers to the ports. The corridor has a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour (64 km/h).
History
The Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles with the direction of John Rinard, PE completed the purchase of Southern Pacific's Alameda Corridor line for $235 million in December 1994. The line went into operation April 15, 2002 and reached a peak of 60 train movements per day in October 2006. It is credited with significantly relieving congestion on the Long Beach Freeway (I-710Interstate 710
Interstate 710 is a major north–south interstate freeway running for 23 miles through Los Angeles County, California...
) and elsewhere in the region. During calendar year 2007, the line carried 17,824 trains carrying 4.7 million TEUs
Twenty-foot equivalent unit
The twenty-foot equivalent unit is an inexact unit of cargo capacity often used to describe the capacity of container ships and container terminals...
(twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers.
Alameda Corridor East
The Alameda Corridor East Project, currently under construction will grade separate many of the crossings along Union Pacific Railroad's Alhambra Subdivision and the Los Angeles Subdivision. Many of these crossings, which are currently at grade, tie up traffic on north-south streets for long periods multiple times a day as the long freight trains pass on their way to and from the massive UP yards in VernonVernon, California
Vernon is a city five miles south of downtown Los Angeles, California. The population was 112 at the 2010 United States Census, the smallest of any incorporated city in the state....
and Commerce
Commerce, California
Commerce is a city located in southeast Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 12,823 at the 2010 census, up from 12,568 at the 2000 census. It is bordered by Vernon on the west, Los Angeles on the northwest, East Los Angeles on the north, Montebello on the east, Downey...
.
Included as part of the Alameda Corridor East project is the half-billion dollar San Gabriel Trench, which will submerge the track between Ramona street and San Gabriel Boulevard in the city of San Gabriel
San Gabriel, California
San Gabriel is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is named after the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, founded by Junipero Serra. The city grew outward from the mission and in 1852 became the original township of Los Angeles County. San Gabriel was incorporated in 1913...
. This project is in the design phase with a large portion of its construction funds secured.
Along with federal fund matching, the project would also be funded in part by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the California state-chartered regional transportation planning agency and public transportation operating agency for the County of Los Angeles formed in 1993 out of a merger of the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the...
.