(The following story by Stacey Shepard appeared on the Bakersfield Californian website on October 11.)
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — State money may finance part of an $80 million expansion of railroad capacity over the Tehachapi Pass to move more goods from the Port of Oakland to consumers in other parts of the country.
The state money would come from Proposition 1B, the $20 billion transportation bond voters approved last November.
Railroad companies and other proponents say the plan is a wise way to spend the bond money because it will reduce the number of trucks on the road, cutting traffic congestion and air pollution, and creating jobs as imports from Asia continue to grow.
“It’s good for the environment and it’s good for California highways,” said Lena Kent, a spokeswoman with BNSF railroad.
But some are asking if handouts for railroads — which only transport goods destined for out-of-state markets — was Proposition 1B’s intent.
“Is that what California really voted for?” asked Brent Green, business and economic development director for the city of Shafter, which is building an inland port facility to handle the increase in goods from the Port of Oakland destined for Southern California markets. “It’s not going to provide additional capacity (to move goods) here in the region. You’re just going to have more trains coming through the valley going to Texas and Chicago.”
Except for some passenger service, rail service in California is used exclusively to move cargo between the ports and markets in the U.S. interior.
Meanwhile, in-state goods are moved on highways by heavily polluting diesel trucks.
Green said that if railroads want to take state money for the project, they should be willing to provide in-state rail service to move goods. However, the railroads have consistently said in-state rail service isn’t feasible.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad has proposed the expansion of rail lines through the Tehachapi Pass.
The pass, which includes the Tehachapi Loop, is critical to the railroad industry because it is one of a few passes through the Sierra Nevada that allow for moving goods to the rest of the country. While the track is owned by Union Pacific, 70 percent of the trains that run on it belong to BNSF.
Because the line is a single-track, it has created a bottleneck, said BNSF’s Kent. And with trade volume at the Port of Oakland growing, “we won’t be able to get everything through there in the future,” she said.
Port of Oakland officials expect the volume of Asian imports destined for areas in the central and eastern part of the United State to nearly double in the next 10 years, from 740,000 cargo containers per year to 1.4 million.
To handle the increase, plans call for double-tracking 15 miles of the Tehachapi Pass, though the loop would remain single track.
The railroad’s plan is supported by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, which is struggling to meet federal smog and diesel particulates standards.
Whether the goods are going out of state or staying in California, “in general, we support projects that would take trucks off our roads and put them on rail cars,” said Seyed Sadredin, the district’s executive director.
Diesel trucks are the largest source of smog-forming emissions in the valley, and each train can carry the load of 100 trucks while producing less pollution.
But the city of Shafter’s Green wants to see the state focus its efforts on the in-state goods movement, specifically the possibility of moving those goods by rail.
The rail line through Tehachapi Pass will ultimately have to be expanded to keep the nation’s flow of goods moving smoothly, Green said. But before California contributes funds to that project, Green said state and local leaders must address the possibility of in-state rail.
“Our concern is that we are just totally dependent on highway transportation,” Green said. “Given our inability to get roads on line … we have serious challenges here.”