Crows Landing rail plan gets first nod on state funds

Crows Landing rail plan gets first nod on state funds A plan to build a short-haul rail project linking the Crows Landing Air Facility and the Port of Oakland received a vote of confidence, and possible construction funds, from a state transportation agency this week.
   Staff from the California Transportation Commission, charged with disbursing about $3 billion of Prop-1B funds earmarked for goods movement projects, has recommended to the CTC board that the rail project should receive $25 million.
   The amount is about $1 million less than the project's Sacramento-based developer PCCP West Park and Stanislaus County officials had requested for the rail project.
   The $52 million rail plan, a key component in developer PCCP West Park's plan to remake the Crows Landing Naval Air Station into a 4,800-acre rail and industrial complex, seeks to upgrade existing trackage along an 80-mile-long route running between Crows Landing and the Port of Oakland.
   Part of the entire project's first phase of construction and set for completion in 2011, the rail component calls for several 50-car trains loaded with freight containers to shuttle along the proposed route through the Altamont Pass between the port and the redevelopment project site in Northern San Joaquin Valley. Containers reaching Crows Landing would be loaded onto trucks for distribution throughout the Central Valley. Valley agricultural products and other regional products could be returned via the same rail line to the port for export.
   The commission is expect to vote April 10 on the staff recommendations.