When it opened more than 20 years ago, the Alameda Corridor was considered one of the largest, most important railroad infrastructure projects of its kind in the United States. It has proven its worth multiple times. To date, more than 6.1 million cargo containers (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, or TEUs) have been moved through the corridor, which means more than 250 million trucks have been removed from often-congested highways. Today, coming off a record year for moving cargo by rail in and out of the San Pedro Bay port complex, the Alameda Corridor continues to demonstrate its importance both to the international shipping industry, which needs cargo moved efficiently and reliably, and to the millions of Southern California residents who no longer deal with long waits at grade-level railroad crossings, see fewer trucks on highways and are benefitting from reduced emissions. Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority OpenRailwayMap.org Now, it’s time to modernize the backbone systems of the Alameda Corridor and prepare it for future demands that are being driven in part by the creation of more on-dock rail capacity at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, by regional intermodal projects that have positioned the West Coast as the optimal rail route to serve North America, and planned expansions within the San Pedro Bay port complex. The Alameda Corridor is a 20-mile-long, multiple-track rail system that links the rail facilities of the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach with the Union Pacific and BNSF rail networks. The…
