The long-awaited construction contract to being building Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility at the Port of Long Beach will go out to bid in early 2024, officials with the port said Wednesday.
Officials said the $1.567 billion facility will be built in phases with the final segment due to be completed in 2032. More than 15 years have gone into the planning of the new pier’s rail facility.
“We’re eager to break ground and start laying new tracks for this transformative facility,” Long Beach Harbor Commission President Bobby Olvera, Jr. said. “Expanding and modernizing this rail yard allows our Port to move more cargo faster, more efficiently and more safely to markets across the nation.”
The facility is the long-awaited centerpiece of a series of Port improvements to its rail network. Over the last three years, the Port has completed the double-track project from Pier G to Pier J; a fourth track at Ocean Boulevard; and the on-dock rail yard at Middle Harbor, with the capacity to handle 1 million 20-foot equivalent units annually.
The new facility will more than double the size of the existing Pier B rail yard from 82 acres to 171 acres and more than triple the volume of on-dock rail cargo the Port can handle. The yard will also feature a fueling depot and an area to service up to 30 locomotives at the same time, officials said. A full-service staging area to assemble and break down trains up to 10,000 feet long will also be a yard feature.
“This is the first of a series of construction projects that make up the Pier B On-Dock Rail Support Facility program,” Port CEO Mario Cordero said. “By augmenting our ability to increase velocity in container movement by rail and move more cargo by rail, the Port is well-positioned to handle cargo growth, prevent supply chain delays and reduce emissions associated with Port activity into the future.”
Building the rail yard involves adding more than 130,000 feet of rail, quadrupling the number of tracks from 12 to 48, widening the rail bridge over the Dominguez Channel, and reconfiguring and improving nearby Pico Avenue and Pier B Street. The rail yard program consists of 10 project starting with bid solicitation in the first quarter of 2024, wand construction beginning in the fall.