advertisement

---

Yesterday, BNSF Railway Co. and the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council announced they finalized a project labor agreement worth more than $255 million for the construction of the proposed Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) intermodal facility in L.A. The pact governs safety, quality and other work issues.

Designed as the nation’s “greenest intermodal facility,” the SCIG will enable containers to be loaded onto trains about four miles from docks at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach instead of being transported 24 miles on local roads and the 710 freeway to downtown rail facilities, BNSF officials said in a prepared statement. The $500 million facility will be constructed in phases over a three-year period.

“The SCIG will allow 1.5 million more containers to move by more efficient and environmentally preferred rail through the Alameda Corridor each year, greatly reducing truck traffic congestion in southern California,” BNSF officials said.

Meanwhile, Duval County Legislative Delegation members recently agreed to draft a letter voicing support for the development of a CSX Corp. intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) at the port of Jacksonville, Fla. The non-partisan delegation’s three state senators and eight state representatives — who represent Duval County in the Florida Legislature — plan to send the letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

CSX and Jacksonville Port Authority officials had approached delegation members about supporting efforts to obtain government funding for the $45 million project. The Class I and the authority plan to build the ICTF at the port’s Dames Point Marine Terminal to provide on-dock rail services and divert truck traffic from local highways.

The project partners are seeking $20 million from the Florida Department of Transportation and $25 million from the federal government through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery III, or TIGER III, grant program. On Oct. 31, CSX Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward, Jacksonville Port Authority CEO Paul Anderson, Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown and other officials plan to jointly announce they formed a public-private partnership to submit an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation to secure the TIGER III grant.