A recent analysis of the Alameda Corridor, a dedicated freight network for train and truck traffic in the Los Angeles area, shows that rail cargo volumes are vastly exceeding projections along the corridor’s 20-mile expressway.
The Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ACTA) reports that fiscal year 2004 rail container traffic was 14.6% higher than in the previous fiscal year. The corridor also carried 26.6% of total Los Angeles-Long Beach port volume in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004, as compared to 25.9% of port volume during the previous year.
The multi-tracked corridor, which cost $2.4 billion to build, carried a daily average of 5,008 containers in fiscal 2004, ACTA said, or 638 per day more than during fiscal 2003. “That is 3% higher than the original 1998 forecasted number,” said ACTA board chairwoman Janice Hahn, a Los Angeles City Councilwoman.
The Corridor also had a better-than-projected revenue performance, with assessed fees and charges exceeded the previous year's numbers by 13.9%. Total fiscal 2004 revenue reached $62.3 million, compared to $54.7 million in fiscal 2003, she added.
Because of the corridor’s fiscal success, ACTA was able to refinance its federal loans and pay back a $573 million Department of Transportation loan 28 years in advance of its maturity date earlier this year.
