May 16th 2022 | Posted in Transportation by Government Contracting Pipeline

California – A key rail facility at the Port of Long Beach is growing closer to reality after clearing federal environmental approval, which triggers the release of $52.3 million in grant funding from the U.S. Maritime Administration.
CA Port of Long Beach Port of Long Beach gaining approvals for $1.55B rail yard facility

Port of Long Beach

This federal grant is significant seed money for the first phase of the $1.55 billion program to reconfigure, expand, and enhance the port’s existing Pier B rail yard. The project centers on a full-service staging facility for allowing trains up to 20,000 feet long – almost 4 miles – to be assembled or broken down safely and efficiently.

It will include dedicated space for servicing locomotives and rail cars and streamlining feeder tracks to the Alameda Corridor, the superhighway for freight trains moving through metropolitan Los Angeles and connecting the San Pedro Bay ports with rest of the country.
Plans call for the project to be built in 12 segments from 2023 to 2026, starting with the design, contracting, and construction of these first five stages:
  • Locomotive facility.
  • Westward expansion of the existing site and realignment of Pier B Street.
  • Eastward expansion of the site.
  • Relocation of a Los Angeles County flood control pump station.
  • Widening the Dominguez Channel Bridge to accommodate a third track.
Ultimately, the new facility will more than double the size of the existing yard, growing it from 82 acres to 171 acres. It will add more than 130,000 feet of rail, quadrupling the number of tracks from 12 to 48 sets comprised of two main lines, five arrival/departure tracks, and 41 tracks throughout the yard for staging, storing, and repairs.
The entire facility is expected to be completed by 2032, which will further the port in its longstanding goal of moving at least 35 percent of cargo by on-dock rail.