‘Pier beast’: Port of Long Beach breaks ground on massive $1.57B rail yard
The 171-acre facility is expected to reduce the number of truck trips at the port by 4.6 million annually, drastically cutting harmful emissions.
Brilliant white and two shades of green, Pacific Harbor Line’s Progress Rail Joule battery-electric locomotive with a single car trailing behind rolls to a stop. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, along with numerous state and local officials, disembark to kick off the groundbreaking ceremony for the Port of Long Beach’s most ambitious rail project ever.
The Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility, which will more than double the existing rail yard from 82 acres to 171 acres, has been in the works for nearly two decades. Thursday’s groundbreaking marks the beginning of years of construction, with the project slated for completion in 2032.
During the event, Buttigieg lauded the future facility’s ability to more than triple the port’s rail capacity from 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (the standard measure of a shipping container) annually to 4.7 million.
“The kind of throughput to keep America’s economy humming and keep costs down, with benefits in every part of this country,” Buttigieg said.
