Alameda Corridor
The Alameda Corridor is a 20-mile (32 km) freight rail "expressway"[1] owned by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (reporting mark ATAX) that connects the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with the transcontinental mainlines of the BNSF Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad that terminate near downtown Los Angeles, California.[2] Running largely in a trench below Alameda Street, the corridor was considered one of the region's largest transportation projects when it was constructed in the 1990s and early 2000s.[1]
Alameda Corridor
Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority
freight terminal railroad
April 15, 2002
20 mi (32 km)
3
4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
40 mph (64 km/h)
Additional developments[edit]
Alameda Corridor–East[edit]
The Alameda Corridor–East project was established in 1998 by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments to upgrade over 70 miles (110 km) of railroad tracks in the area east of Downtown Los Angeles. The project includes 19 grade separations and elimination of 23 grade crossings along UP's Alhambra Subdivision and the Los Angeles Subdivision.[10][11] The crossings, which were previously at grade, tied up traffic on north–south streets for long periods multiple times a day as long freight trains pass en route to and from the UP yards in Vernon and Commerce. As of 2023, over a dozen grade separations have been completed, with several more under construction or in design.[12]
Included as part of the Alameda Corridor–East project is the $336.9 million San Gabriel Trench, which submerged the track between Ramona Street and San Gabriel Boulevard in San Gabriel.[13] Construction began in 2012 and was completed in 2017.[14][15]
Possible electrification[edit]
The Alameda Corridor was built in a way to permit electrification with the use of electric catenary wires, which would increase the environmental benefit by displacing the use of diesel fuel; but the electrification has not happened as of yet.[16] This solution has largely been ignored due to lack of familiarity with electric freight technology in North America, although electric freight trains operate in many other parts of the world. Electrification could reduce air pollution in the region, which has been described as a "Diesel Death Zone" due to the pollution from trucks on Interstate 710.[17][18]