Union Pacific proposes upgrade at Port of L.A.
Union Pacific Railroad has submitted a $300 million proposal to upgrade its massive intermodal container yard near West Long Beach.
The modernization plan seeks to double the facility's container-handling capacity while replacing nearly all the yard's diesel trucks and gantry cranes with electric-powered equipment.
Approval is required from the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission.
"The goal of this project is to improve the environmental impact of this facility, while supporting the growth of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach," UP Chairman Jim Young said in a statement.
The near-dock freight yard, known as the Internodal Container Transfer Facility, currently handles an estimated 700,000 containers annually. Containers are delivered to the site by truck, then loaded onto trains heading inland.
Upgrades would allow the facility to reduce lighting, noise and air pollution by investing in new yard equipment, locomotives and trucks. The plan calls for using special electric cranes to stack containers and employing hoods to direct light away from area homes.
The 24/7 operation would also add truck gates and invest in other efficiencies to reduce truck wait
times by 50 percent, officials said.
Specifically, the plan calls for removing 71 of the existing 73 diesel yard trucks with electric, rail-mounted cantilever cranes. Ten existing diesel gantry cranes will also be replaced with electric equipment.
UP also plans to switch out many long-haul, short-haul and yard locomotives with cleaner trains.
Port authorities received the proposal Friday and will make a formal response within 30 days.
If the project moves forward, an environmental impact report will address congestion, environmental and other quality-of-life concerns, said Port Spokeswoman Theresa Adams-Lopez.
Located where the Terminal Island (103) Freeway ends at Willow Street/Sepulveda Boulevard, the site opened in 1986 on 200 acres of a former race car drag strip.
In recent years, operations there have drawn fierce opposition from community groups concerned about noise, traffic and air pollution.
Long Beach resident John Cross, an active railyard opponent who lives near the site, said he and like-minded residents would fight any expansion projects.
"The health effects on people over here and the impact on kids just do not justify any expansions or new railyards," Cross said Friday. "It's unacceptable."
Rail operators have also been criticized by local air-quality regulators, who say diesel locomotives in the Los Angeles region emit more smog-forming emissions than 1.4 million cars, trucks and SUVs.
The modernization plan seeks to double the facility's container-handling capacity while replacing nearly all the yard's diesel trucks and gantry cranes with electric-powered equipment.
Approval is required from the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commission.
"The goal of this project is to improve the environmental impact of this facility, while supporting the growth of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach," UP Chairman Jim Young said in a statement.
The near-dock freight yard, known as the Internodal Container Transfer Facility, currently handles an estimated 700,000 containers annually. Containers are delivered to the site by truck, then loaded onto trains heading inland.
Upgrades would allow the facility to reduce lighting, noise and air pollution by investing in new yard equipment, locomotives and trucks. The plan calls for using special electric cranes to stack containers and employing hoods to direct light away from area homes.
The 24/7 operation would also add truck gates and invest in other efficiencies to reduce truck wait
times by 50 percent, officials said.
Specifically, the plan calls for removing 71 of the existing 73 diesel yard trucks with electric, rail-mounted cantilever cranes. Ten existing diesel gantry cranes will also be replaced with electric equipment.
UP also plans to switch out many long-haul, short-haul and yard locomotives with cleaner trains.
Port authorities received the proposal Friday and will make a formal response within 30 days.
If the project moves forward, an environmental impact report will address congestion, environmental and other quality-of-life concerns, said Port Spokeswoman Theresa Adams-Lopez.
Located where the Terminal Island (103) Freeway ends at Willow Street/Sepulveda Boulevard, the site opened in 1986 on 200 acres of a former race car drag strip.
In recent years, operations there have drawn fierce opposition from community groups concerned about noise, traffic and air pollution.
Long Beach resident John Cross, an active railyard opponent who lives near the site, said he and like-minded residents would fight any expansion projects.
"The health effects on people over here and the impact on kids just do not justify any expansions or new railyards," Cross said Friday. "It's unacceptable."
Rail operators have also been criticized by local air-quality regulators, who say diesel locomotives in the Los Angeles region emit more smog-forming emissions than 1.4 million cars, trucks and SUVs.
