Long Beach breaks ground on $1.5B railyard expansion at port to fortify US supply chain

abcnews.go.com:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other officials paid a visit to the port of Long Beach to break ground on a $1.5 billion railyard expansion project that will more than triple the dock’s rail cargo capacity

LOS ANGELES — U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and other officials visited the port of Long Beach on Thursday to break ground on a $1.5 billion railyard expansion project that will more than triple the volume of rail cargo the dock can handle annually.

Dubbed “America’s Green Gateway,” the project will expand the existing railyard and link the port to 30 major rail hubs around the country. It aims to streamline rail operations to reduce the environmental impact, traffic congestion, and air pollution caused by cargo trucks.

“This work builds a rail network on a port that more than triples the volume of cargo that can move by rail to nearly five million containers a year — the kind of throughput that’ll keep America’s economy humming and keep costs down with benefits in every part of this country,” Buttigieg said.

This project and others funded by the Biden administration aim to make American supply chains more resilient against future disruptions and to fix supply chains upended by the pandemic, he said.

Long Beach is one of the busiest seaports in the country, with 40% of all shipping containers in the United States coming through it or Los Angeles' ports. During the pandemic, these ports dealt with unprecedented gridlock, with dozens of ships waiting off-shore and shipping containers piling up on the docks because there weren't enough trucks to transport them.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2032. The railyard expansion means there will be a depot for fueling and servicing up