LONG BEACH, Calif. — The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are now accepting proposals from prospective operators of the short line railroad serving the two ports.
Pacific Harbor Line has provided the service since 1998, the last time the contract was put out for bid. While the two ports are administered by the harbor departments of their respective cities, a single short line network serves both ports. The operator selected will have to enter into separate operating agreements with each port; those agreements have different requirements.
The two ports handled almost 20 million containers in 2024, and have a goal of moving 35% of containers away from the facilities by train under the ports’ Clean Air Action Plan.
Proposals are due July 28 at 5 p.m. The request for proposals is available here. Among likely bidders: Alemeda Belt Line, the joint Union Pacific-BNSF venture created to dispatch the Alemeda Corridor, the shared route leading to the ports.
Under the current contract, Pacific Harbor Line — an Anacostia Rail Holdings railroad — operates 19 route miles and 96 track miles, providing neutral service to BNSF and UP, nine intermodal terminals, and a number of carload customers in and around the two ports. It moves approximately 40,000 carloads with some 190 employees and a fleet of 25 locomotives.
This is stupid, the Ports of LA/LB should just renew the contract with the current operator to facilitate seemless operations. This should NOT be open to competitive bidding and definitely shouldn’t include the Alameda Belt Line, you want, need a neutral party serving the ports(no favoritism)…it’s a waste of time and resources, plus there will be disruption of you end up choosing a new operator, which will result in congestion.