ALAMEDA CORRIDOR FEDERAL LOANS REPAID
LOS ANGELES - 0519/04 - US Department of Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta joined Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson) and several other members of Congress at a recent press conference to  announce the repayment of $573 million in federal loans for the Alameda Corridor rail project.
The loans were repaid 28 years ahead of schedule.
The Alameda Corridor project, completed in April 2002, created a 20-mile link between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the intermodal rail facilities located near downtown Los Angeles.
At a cost of $2.4 billion, the project was one of the most expensive transportation infrastructure projects ever completed in the US.
According to the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA), the rail Corridor currently handles 150 trains daily or about 16% of the nation's freight by tonnage and 6% by value annually.
More than a third of the nation's waterborne container traffic moves through the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, which, if combined, would form the third largest port complex in the world with about 40% of those containers shipped by rail via the Alameda Corridor to points throughout the US.
Pleased by the Alameda Corridor's success and the early repayment of the $400 million loan provided by DOT, Mineta praised the project as "a model for the rest of America and an effective use of taxpayer money" with California Senator Barbara Boxer calling the Corridor "a model for innovative financing of transportation initiatives."
The loans had accrued $173 million in interest since its approval in 1997, though it's early repayment saved ACTA an additional $66 million.
Federal, state and local resources were supplemented with private sector investments to pay for the project's construction.
Go
back, or read the latest Page Two stories:
MEXICO LIFTS CALIFORNIA LETTUCE BAN
MEXICO CITY, Mexico – 10/20/06 – The weeks-old ban on California lettuce shipments to Mexico has been lifted after US Department of Agriculture tests for the E. coli bacteria proved negative; California is the country’s leading producer of lettuce with an estimated 70-75% of the total US production of iceberg lettuce and between 80-85% of the leaf lettuce.
NAPSTER ENTERS THE JAPANESE MARKET
LOS ANGELES – 10/16/06 – Napster, the digital music service provider, has entered the Japanese market with the introduction of a new subscription model that allows subscribers, who until now acquired digital music by paying for each track and album individually; currently, Japan is largest music market in the world outside of the US.
GUESS? IN NEW MEXICAN JV
SAN FRANCISCO – 09/29/06 – Fashion marketer Guess? has inked a manufacturing and marketing joint venture agreement with Mexico’s Grupo Axo; the Mexico City-based company will engage in the production, wholesale distribution and retail sale of Guess? fashion apparel, accessories and other related products throughout the country.
GOOGLE BELGIUM TAKEN TO COURT
BRUSSELS, Belgium – 09/20/06 – Internet search engine Google has been ordered to cease reproducing articles from French-language publications in the news sections of its Belgian website; the court order threatens the company with a fine of $1.3 million daily if it does not comply.
NEW OAKLAND INTERMODAL FACILITY PLANNED
OAKLAND – 09/11/06 – The 425-acre former Oakland Army Base will be converted into the Port of Oakland’s newest intermodal rail yard under the terms of an agreement reached between the port and several local and state government agencies; the planned OHIT – or Outer Harbor Intermodal Terminal – is expected to significantly reduce container transfer times, increase throughput, and reduce truck traffic in and around the port when completed within the next several years.
INTEL MAY LAYOFF THOUSANDS
SANTA CLARA – 09/04/06 – Chipmaker Intel is reportedly planning to announce a massive layoff within weeks that could eliminate as many as 10,000 jobs or one-tenth of the company’s total global workforce; the move was spurred by several financially disappointing quarters and the results of an internal corporate analysis conducted in April.
|
![](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=h8BN5KCpRYw&offerid=20386.10000001&type=4&subid=0"><IMG width="120" height="60" alt="blue box" border="0" src="http://www.site59.com/global/images/affiliate/120_60(bl)_01.gif"></a><IMG border="0" width="1" height="1" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=h8BN5KCpRYw&bids=20386.10000001&type=4&subid=0">){kind=link}