(The Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority distributed the following news release on December 22.)
LOS ANGELES COUNTY — A manned security center, additional closed-circuit television cameras, motion detectors, fencing and other security measures for the Alameda Corridor will be installed following receipt of a recently awarded federal grant, officials announced Monday.
About $750,000 in security improvements are planned for the 20-mile rail expressway. Funding will come from a $601,000 federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) port security grant and $149,000 in Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) matching funds.
Tentative plans call for a manned support security operations center at the Union Pacific Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) to monitor the corridor on closed-circuit TV, additional cameras and motion detectors in the 10-mile, mid-corridor trench, as well as new fencing and other barriers.
“Nothing could be more important than making an already strong security system stronger,” said ACTA CEO John Doherty. “We will begin the new year even more focused on security.”
ACTA administrators plan to schedule meetings with railroad police and security consultants to better define the scope of the project, work packages, schedules and a breakdown of costs for each portion of the project. There is a 12-month window in which to complete the design, installation testing and acceptance of packages approved for funding by TSA grant programs.
The Alameda Corridor security project was among 442 nationwide selected Dec. 10 to receive $179 million in the TSA’s third round of port security grants. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which are served by the corridor, were granted a combined $18.7 million.
Opened in April 2002, the Alameda Corridor consolidated train traffic from four branch rail lines into a high-speed freight rail expressway stretching 20 miles between the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and the transcontinental rail yards near downtown Los Angeles. The agency’s governing board is made up of representatives from the cities and ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).