Port of Oakland’s new $100m rail facility receives first train

The Northern California port’s new near-dock rail facility received its first train, which transported animal feed from the Midwestern United States for export to customers in the Far East.    The Port of Oakland’s new $100 million near-dock rail facility at the former Army Base has received its first train, the port said.
   The 100-car train transported animal feed from the Midwest, which was produced by the massive agriculture processor Archer Daniels Midland Co.
   Port tenant Capital River Group will transfer the feed from the hopper cars directly into containers. The feed will then be delivered to the terminals for export to customers in the Far East. It will take about five to six days to transfer the feed in the entire train.


Source: Port of Oakland

   The Port of Oakland has seen a growing market for agricultural products, especially from the Midwest, along with California’s Central and Salinas Valleys.
   Situated in the port’s Outer Harbor Intermodal Terminal area, the new tracks were designed as part of a strategy to enhance the port’s intermodal capabilities and attract more discretionary cargo through Oakland. Discretionary cargo is cargo that is not local to the region and can be shipped through any number of seaports in the United States, Canada or Mexico. The cargo on this train was originally destined for Canadian seaports.


Source: Port of Oakland

   The new tracks are part of a phased rail expansion. They consist of five manifest yard tracks and eight support yard tracks. Manifest yards are used for receiving rail cars that come from Class I railroads, while support yards are used for short-term storage. There are a total 39,000 linear feet of track. Warehouses and distribution centers are also envisioned on the former Army Base.
   The rail yard was built using California state Trade Corridor Improvement Funds (TCIF) and federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants.