‘Pier beast’: Port of Long Beach breaks ground on massive $1.57B rail yard

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.

The $1.567 billion project located southwest of the 710 Freeway and Anaheim Street will be built in phases, with each improving cargo flow, according to port staff. The project includes 130,000 feet of new tracks, five new 10,000-foot-long arrival and departure tracks, 36 new support tracks and 156 new power switches.

The new and reconfigured tracks will directly connect to the Alameda Corridor railway, which connects the San Pedro Bay ports to the transcontinental rail network.

“The project is so complex, I call it ‘Pier Beast,’” Noel Hacegaba, chief operating officer at the port, joked Thursday. “But the better name is America’s Green Gateway.”

Once completed, the facility will allow for trains up to 10,000 feet long — nearly two miles — to be loaded and unloaded at marine terminals, improving efficiency, removing bottlenecks and, most importantly, reducing trucking activity.

The facility is expected to reduce the number of truck trips by 4.6 million each year, according to the port, which equates to a 100 million fewer truck miles driven. A single train can replace up to 750 truck trips, moving one ton of cargo 480 miles for every one gallon of fuel, according to the American Association of Railroads.

Fewer trucks means significantly reduced emissions, with the port projecting an 85% decrease in diesel particulate matter, an 80% decrease in sulfur oxide emissions, a 64% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and a 26% decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions.

“We should never forget the single most important piece of all of this is the health impacts and the ability for families in and around West Long Beach to breathe healthier air, to be free of cancer and asthma, to know they can raise their children in a community that is cleaner and safer,” said Congressman Robert Garcia, who served as the city’s mayor from 2014 to 2022.

West Long Beach resident Carlos Ovalle recalled the historic backlog of container ships off the coast amid the pandemic, which saw emissions increase in an area already plagued by poor air quality. The short-term solutions at the time only exacerbated air quality issues for some of the city’s most underserved residents, he noted.

Ovalle, a community advocate, said the project is not enough. He said rail capacity needs to be even higher and that the locomotives themselves must be converted to zero-emission.

The Joule, which Buttigieg and others rode in on Thursday, is currently the only zero-emission switcher engine (a locomotive that does short trips within the port complex) operating in North America, Hacegaba said. For longer hauls, zero-emission trains are also rare.

In a June report, the International Council on Clean Transportation noted that many counties and regions outside the U.S. have committed to zero-emission railways, with overhead electrical wire systems being the dominant pathway. In the U.S., less than 1% of the rail network uses such a system, the council noted.

A cancer patient, Ovalle said he does think the port’s rail efforts will eventually move the needle on local emissions to the benefit of residents.

“I sincerely doubt I will be around to see that needle move,” Ovalle said, adding that the port is doing this work for the benefit of business, not concern for public health. “Meanwhile, how many of us have to endure the highest rate of ozone pollution in the nation?”

The port already has spent over $100 million on other rail projects throughout the complex, with more on the way. Eight projects have been completed, including the $51 million Pier G North Rail Yard. A $40 million project on Terminal Island that will add approximately 10,000 feet of track at the critical rail junction is in the works.

To make way for the Pier B facility, the port first had to acquire the necessary land. While some land in the project area was owned by the port already, other parcels were privately owned.

Port staff has identified 39 businesses that must relocate out of the project zone, according to port spokesperson Lee Peterson. A few are looking to remain in the city, he said, adding that moves are not yet finalized.

The port offered property owners buyouts for the industrial land and assisted the businesses in finding new locations for their operations, Peterson said, adding that the Board of Harbor Commissioners has authorized the use of eminent domain for two properties.

Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero boasted that the project will create more than 1,100 “good-paying” jobs during his remarks Thursday, adding that infrastructure improvements make the port more attractive to shippers.

“It’s a game changer,” Cordero said, calling Pier B the “most impactful operational endeavor” the port has ever undertaken.

Both Garcia and Buttigieg praised the Biden administration, particularly its landmark bipartisan infrastructure bill, which provided funding to Pier B and tens of thousands of other projects throughout the country.

To date, the port has received nearly $642 million in government grant funding for Pier B, including over $404 million in federal funding, nearly $229 million from the state and $10 million from Los Angeles County.

“As we saw during the pandemic, what happens at the biggest port complex in the country affects the whole country,” Buttigieg said.

“America's supply chains have to get better prepared than they were three and a half years ago,” he continued, referring to the pandemic backlog. “And thanks to this group here and the leadership of President Biden, they are better prepared for those threats and challenges.”