Population growth in Southern California has
important implications for future freight and people movement needs in
the region.
The completion of the
Alameda Corridor Project in
April 2002 marks the
first step in a desperately needed upgrade of
Southern
California’s
community impacted
rail
infrastructure. The region’s growing population and role as the nation’s
import hub for burgeoning
Pacific Rim
trade is
driving rapid growth of container traffic out of the ports of
Los Angeles
and
Long Beach
and into our communities.
The increase in container traffic is in turn fueling a dramatic
increase in rail traffic. Accommodating future rail traffic demand will
require major grade separation and improvement projects on
Alameda Corridor East
terminus that starts near downtown
Los
Angeles. The
second leg of the Alameda Corridor East goes from Colton Crossing
out to almost the California Border.
Three rail lines form the
Alameda Corridor East connecting the northern end of the
Alameda Corridor
at Redondo Junction
to the Colton
Crossing in
San
Bernardino County. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF)
line runs through northern
LA, Orange and
Riverside County
while the
two Union Pacific (UP)
lines – the
Alhambra
and LA – run
through the San Gabriel Valley
and San Bernardino County before intersecting with the
BNSF line at
Colton
Crossing.
(Maps of the study area can be found in
Appendix A.) The
Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) commissioned this study to forecast
future rail traffic along the
Alameda Corridor East, and to assess the need for
infrastructure improvements.
The study report consists of three main sections and a series of
appendices. The first section presents forecasts for population and
employment growth in the six-county
(Los
Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura
and
Imperial) Southern
California
Region through 2025. It also covers container traffic at the Ports
of Los Angeles and
Long Beach,
along with rail traffic through the
Alameda Corridor East,
during the same time period. The second section translates the growth
forecasts into freight and passenger rail traffic. Summary results are
presented from computer simulations of rail traffic patterns along the
Alameda Corridor East
through 2025,
together with rail infrastructure improvements needed to handle the
expected load. The third section suggests possible strategies for
funding the expensive rail and grade crossing improvements.
The study concludes with a brief outline
of the next steps required to prepare the region’s rail infrastructure
to handle the substantial increase in freight and passenger traffic
expected over the next twenty-plus years.
Read the Los
Angeles-Inland Empire Railroad Main Line Advanced Planning Study
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