Pacific
Harbor Line - (en)
The Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) was formed in 1998 to take over the
Harbor Belt Line (HBL). In 1998 the Alameda Corridor was nearing
completion, allowing a massive amount of railroad traffic from the
largest harbor in the Western hemisphere; the Port of Los Angeles and
Port of Long Beach.
The train has 18 route miles with a web of 59 miles of track.
The reason for the formation of the PHL was to create a level playing
field for shippers. Up to that time, the HBL was owned and operated by
the major railroads in Los Angeles; the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe
Railway and the Union Pacific. The PHL, in contrast, is privately
owned by the Anacostia & Pacific Company. It operates on tracks
and facilities owned by the ports.
One of the problems with the HBL arrangement was that shipper could
have problems getting their goods to or from the port depending on
where an individual railroad's track ended.
The PHL hailed itself as a neutral switching railroad that could
reliably serve shippers at this large port complex. PHL handles 40,000
carloads of freight a year excluding intermodal traffic.
|
