(The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation distributed the following press release on September 11.)
LOS ANGELES — “The threat of terrorism is real on strategic rail corridors with passenger and freight rail service and we believe that Al Qaeda’s apparent interest in rail attacks should be a call to action,” said Counterterrorism Expert Elsa Lee, who contributed to a-new-one-of-a-kind Homeland Security report released today (Sept. 11, 2003) entitled: “OnTrac Trade Impact Study: National Economic Significance of Rail Capacity and Homeland Security on the Alameda Corridor East.” (http://www.MayoCommunications.com )
The study was commissioned and published in cooperation with the Orange North-American Trade Rail Access Corridor (OnTrac) Joint Powers Authority and the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC). The study was completed as part of the environmental review process for the Alameda Corridor East strategic rail system that goes through Placentia, California.
“The disruption cost of shutting down the Alameda Corridor East represents a $414 million disruption value each day that it is shut down,” said LAEDC Director of Public Policy, Greg Freeman. “The same 10-day disruption would therefore be $4.1 billion. An attack of 30-days’ duration would see a $12.4 billion disruption cost and go to $24.8 billion if the shutdown of the strategic corridor lasts for 60-days.”
“Southern California has become the nation’s primary gateway for two-way international trade,” said Executive Director Christopher Becker, of OnTrac. “The Alameda Corridor East rail lines moved about $116 billion in goods based on the manufacturer’s value in 2000. The street value was much higher for these products. The street values of rail cargo traveling on the Alameda Corridor East in 2000 were $166 billion.” Becker’s testimony at the Congressional Railroad Committee Hearings was that Washington should provide more flexible funding for environmentally beneficial rail projects, and significantly more funding for mega projects and grade crossing programs like Alameda Corridor East.
“Increasing capacity of rail moves more consumer and military goods, faster, but at the same time added capacity also increases the wait times for drivers at street level rail crossings,” said LAEDC Senior Vice President Wally Baker.