U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and officials from across the nation on July 18 attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the Port of Long Beach’s Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility, a $1.567 billion endeavor that the port has said will define its cargo movement future.
About 500 people gathered for the groundbreaking event for the project, which is expected to double the footprint of the existing rail yard from 82 acres to 171 acres. It is being built in phases, each enhancing cargo movement, with construction scheduled for completion by 2032.
In recognition of the facility’s importance to the future of the U.S. supply chain, the Port of Long Beach has won $643 million in grant funding from federal, state and local transportation agencies for the project. The federal government alone has awarded $404.1 million, while the state of California has invested $228.8 million and Los Angeles County $10 million.
POLB officials have said that the project will more than triple the port’s capacity for on-dock rail — cargo that’s moved directly to and from marine terminals by trains — to 4.7 million twenty-foot equivalent units per year. On-dock rail reduces emissions and stress on the local and regional road network.
Through projects like America’s Green Gateway and the hundreds of other supply chain improvements we’re making across the country, we’re making our supply chains more robust and resilient in the face of any potential future disruptions,” Buttigieg said.
The support facility will add 130,000 feet of new tracks, build 36 new support tracks and more than double the number of trains leaving the port to 17 daily, according to Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero.
“These improvements will benefit the entire U.S. supply chain and get us closer to the operational and environmental transformation into a zero-emissions port,” he added.
Buttigieg and other speakers, including members of the port’s Harbor Commission and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, arrived at the event in a passenger rail car transported by a Pacific Harbor Line battery-electric locomotive.