On July 7, the Port of Oakland welcomed the first train to
use a new, $100 million near-dock rail facility located in the port’s Outer
Harbor Intermodal Terminal area, the site of a former US Army base.
The new tracks were designed as part of a strategy to
enhance the port’s intermodal capabilities: the port has said it wants to
attract more discretionary cargo, which isn’t local to the region and can be
shipped through any number of seaports in the United States, Canada or Mexico.
The new tracks are part of a phased rail expansion. They
consist of five manifest yard tracks and eight support yard tracks. Manifest
yards are used for receiving rail cars that come from Class I railroads. Support
yards are used for short-term storage. There are a total 39,000 linear feet of
track. Warehouses and distribution centers are also envisioned on the former
Army base.
The cargo on the inaugural train was originally destined for
Canadian seaports. The 100-car locomotive carries agricultural products from
Archer Daniels Midland Co. from the Midwestern United States and headed to
Asia. The cargo is to be transferred from rail cars directly into containers by
port tenant Capital River Group and delivered to the terminals for export.
The Port of Oakland says it has seen a growing market for
agricultural products, especially from California’s Central and Salinas Valleys
and the Midwest.
“The port envisioned a rail yard that would bring cargo
through Oakland,” Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll said. “This
was made possible by maritime business partners such as Union Pacific Railroad
and government funding partners.”
The rail yard was built using California state Trade
Corridor Improvement Funds (TCIF) and federal transportation grants.
