BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) today said that the state of California's application for a $27 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant for truck efficiency improvements at BNSF's Hobart Intermodal Facility will have a significant impact on improving freight mobility and the economy in California.
Located near downtown Los Angeles, BNSF's Hobart Intermodal Facility is among the nation's busiest intermodal terminals. This project would yield a 50 percent improvement in the productivity of the cargo pick-up and delivery process at Hobart for more than one million trucks per year and would remove an average of 580,000 trucks per year from adjacent city streets.
If granted, this project would bring public benefits in excess of $261 million, create hundreds of new jobs during construction, and put more than $52 million into the local economy.
This project would build grade separations over the BNSF transcontinental mainline between the Hobart Intermodal Facility and off-site truck lots, and implement an innovative automated gate system to speed the processing of trucks entering and exiting the intermodal facility.
"On behalf of BNSF, I want to thank all of the business and community leaders and public officials who have worked so hard in support of this project," said Matthew K. Rose, BNSF chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We appreciate Caltrans' leadership in finding ways to reduce air emissions and congestion while also creating jobs and improving the economy. We would also like to commend California State Senators Ronald Calderon and Gilbert Cedillo and California Assemblymember Hector de la Torre for their support of this project. These leaders are working hard to ensure the Los Angeles region will remain one of the most environmentally friendly, efficient and competitive freight transportation markets in the nation."
Additional support for stimulus funds for the Los Angeles Truck Efficiency Improvement Plan was provided by the following:
If granted stimulus funds, construction could begin in 2010 and would bring the following benefits to the region:
"It is through projects like the Los Angeles Truck Efficiency Improvement Plan and the tremendous support from the community that will allow the United States to create and sustain the pre-eminent surface transportation system in the world," Rose said.
About BNSF Railway Company
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, carries the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulfur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.
BNSF Headquarters
BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
Fort Worth, TX 76131-2830
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000
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