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FORT WORTH, Texas – 05/10/07 – The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway has said it will “significantly enhance” its proposed Southern California International Gateway (SCIG).

The SCIG facility (an artist's rendering is seen, left) is slated for construction between Sepulveda Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway in a heavily industrialized area adjacent to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The new facility will allow cargo to be loaded onto rail lines much closer to the port complex, with containers traveling less than a mile by rail to the nearby Alameda Corridor for movement on to the intermodal facilities 23 miles inland near downtown Los Angeles.

The decision, the Texas-based rail carrier said, was based on input from local residents, community leaders, regional elected representatives, and port officials.

In addition to BNSF’s original commitments – which include electric cranes, LNG-powered or equivalent yard tractors, and low-emission switch engines – making the facility the cleanest in the US.

A full 100% of the truck fleet servicing the SCIG will be 2007 or newer upon facility opening; exceeding compliance with the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP), the company said, while trucks serving the facility will be limited to traveling on specified non-residential truck routes and be equipped with global positioning satellite (GPS) devices to monitor and enforce compliance.

In addition, the BNSF’s operating contractor will give qualified local residents first priority for all new job offers at SCIG with the railroad funding a workforce training program to assist area residents in obtaining these jobs.

The BNSF will also foot the bill for the construction of a sound wall east of SCIG to diminish current freeway noise and participate in the new CAAP Technology Committee to continually reevaluate alternative cargo movement technology.

The SCIG “will also result in greater use of the Alameda Corridor, eliminate over a million truck trips per year on the I -710 [Long Beach Freeway] and provide much-needed near-dock [rail] capacity” at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the company said.

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.,the BNSF Railway Co. is one of the two main rail carriers linking Southern California with 27 states and two Canadian provinces over more than 32,000 miles of track.

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