BNSF says California's application for stimulus funds will help improve the state's freight mobility and economy
(BNSF Railway issued the following on September 22, 2009.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) today said that the state of California's application for a $27 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant for truck efficiency improvements at BNSF's Hobart Intermodal Facility will have a significant impact on improving freight mobility and the economy in California.
Located near downtown Los Angeles, BNSF's Hobart Intermodal Facility is among the nation's busiest intermodal terminals. This project would yield a 50 percent improvement in the productivity of the cargo pick-up and delivery process at Hobart for more than one million trucks per year and would remove an average of 580,000 trucks per year from adjacent city streets.
If granted, this project would bring public benefits in excess of $261 million, create hundreds of new jobs during construction, and put more than $52 million into the local economy.
This project would build grade separations over the BNSF transcontinental mainline between the Hobart Intermodal Facility and off-site truck lots, and implement an innovative automated gate system to speed the processing of trucks entering and exiting the intermodal facility.
"On behalf of BNSF, I want to thank all of the business and community leaders and public officials who have worked so hard in support of this project," said Matthew K. Rose, BNSF chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We appreciate Caltrans' leadership in finding ways to reduce air emissions and congestion while also creating jobs and improving the economy. We would also like to commend California State Senators Ronald Calderon and Gilbert Cedillo and California Assemblymember Hector de la Torre for their support of this project. These leaders are working hard to ensure the Los Angeles region will remain one of the most environmentally friendly, efficient and competitive freight transportation markets in the nation."
Additional support for stimulus funds for the Los Angeles Truck Efficiency Improvement Plan was provided by the following:
* Gloria Molina, Board Supervisor, Los Angeles County
* Mark Ridley-Thomas, Board Supervisor, Los Angeles County
* Mayor Joe Aguilar, City of Commerce, Calif.
* Mayor Hilario Gonzales, City of Vernon, Calif.
* Southern California Leadership Council
* Commerce Industrial Council Chamber of Commerce
* Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce
* FuturePorts
* National Retail Federation
* Pacific Merchant Shipping Association
* Retail Industry Leaders Association
* Waterfront Coalition
If granted stimulus funds, construction could begin in 2010 and would bring the following benefits to the region:
* Reduced congestion and public infrastructure cost by eliminating about 580,000 trucks from public streets each year,
* Improved air quality in non-attainment air basin by cutting truck NOx and CO2 emissions by about 50 percent,
* Improved public safety by daily eliminating hundreds of truck moves that cross three mainline tracks used by freight and passenger trains,
* Reduced supply chain congestion costs of $246 million by improving dray truck productivity, and
* Increased gross domestic product and long-term job creation by improving the nation's largest trade corridor.
"It is through projects like the Los Angeles Truck Efficiency Improvement Plan and the tremendous support from the community that will allow the United States to create and sustain the pre-eminent surface transportation system in the world," Rose said.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
