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On Friday, BNSF Railway Co. announced a Draft Environmental Impact Report for the proposed Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) intermodal terminal now is available for public review and comments.

The SCIG is designed to be the greenest intermodal facility in the United States, according to the Class I. The terminal will enable containers to be loaded onto rail cars four miles from docks at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach instead of being transported 24 miles on local roads and a freeway to downtown rail facilities, BNSF officials said in a prepared statement. About 1.5 million more containers will move through the Alameda Corridor each year because of the SCIG, “greatly reducing truck traffic congestion in southern California,” they said.

The facility will feature wide-span electric cranes, ultra-low-emission switchers and low-emission yard equipment.

“The release of this report is a significant moment for green growth in Los Angeles,” said BNSF Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Matt Rose. “We have worked closely with the mayor and other elected officials, staff and stakeholders to develop a $500 million facility that will be an important contributor to the rail system, the port and the regional economy, while at the same time benefitting our community and the environment.”

During the project’s three-year construction phase, about 1,500 jobs would be created annually; after the terminal is completed, the SCIG will create up to 14,000 new direct and indirect jobs in Los Angeles, and 22,000 new direct and indirect jobs in southern California by 2036, according to a IHS Global Insight study cited by BNSF.

Meanwhile, Brookhaven Rail Terminal (BRT) and short-line operator US Rail of NY L.L.C. plan to hold a grand opening tomorrow in Yaphank, N.Y., for the Brookhaven Rail Terminal, the first sustainable freight-rail terminal on Long Island, BRT and US Rail officials said in a grand opening notice.

A partnership of Long Island and upstate New York businessmen, BRT and US Rail have invested more than $40 million in private capital to develop the multi-modal facility. The terminal is projected to handle about 1 million tons of freight annually by 2016, the equivalent of taking 40,000 trucks off area roads, according to the companies.

“Until now, freight movement on Long Island has been handled almost exclusively by truck. Reductions in vehicle weights over New York bridges effectively have doubled the number of trucks required to haul the same amount of freight,” BRT and US Rail officials said. “[The terminal] represents a significant step in lowering the cost of shipping goods to and from Long Island, reducing long-haul truck traffic … [and] creating an enhanced short-haul trucking industry.”