Port growth hinges on rail plan
August 25, 2009
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| Waiting on final plans: The Port of San Francisco wants to expand operations, but Caltrain’s proposal to go electric could change trackway to negatively impact freight trains. (Examiner file photo) |
The expansion of the Port of San Francisco, which would bring jobs to The City, could be hindered by plans to electrify Caltrain.
Caltrain’s plans to move to overhead electric power instead of diesel engines are not final, but if they go forward as currently designed they would shut the window in which freight could be transported from about 15 hours to just five hours, according to a letter written by the recently formed Peninsula Freight Rail Users Group, a consortium of freight shippers and
two ports.
The overhead wires would also limit the height of rail cars that could travel up and down the line. According to the letter, Caltrain’s design plan would lower clearance to 17 feet, “effectively eliminating 40 percent of all current freight car types from moving on the line.”
Caltrain General Manager Mike Scanlon met with leaders of the group last week and assured them that the current design is not final and Caltrain hopes to accommodate freight along the track, San Francisco Port Maritime Director Jim Maloney said.
As it stands, freight traffic is fairly light, but the Port has been hoping to start importing automobiles via Pier 80.
General Motors and other automakers have already expressed interest in moving cars through San Francisco, if the option were available, Maloney said.
A report earlier this year estimated that auto imports could turn into a $30 million industry in San Francisco and employ more than 400 people, bringing in $3.9 million in taxes for The City and $5 million for the Port, Maloney said.
But since the plan depends on a freight rail line that can accommodate carriages of about 19 feet, a 17-foot height limit would completely defeat the effort, he said.
David Gavrich of San Francisco Bay Railroad, which runs rail freight in and out of the Port, said limiting the height to 17 feet is completely unnecessary.
“There’s many examples in Europe and the U.S. where both passenger and freight rail totally coexist — even at high speed,”
he said.
Gavrich pointed to the Chunnel, through which both high-speed rail and freight trains travel under the English Channel between Britain and France.
“It’s a perfect example of how compatible freight and passenger rail can be,” he said.
The Port of Redwood City also would have a lot to lose if Caltrain’s design went through unchanged, Port Executive Director Mike Giari said.
He said the shortened window for transport could make the Port’s tenants look for a new home. Right now, much of the freight traffic comes in between 8 and 10 p.m., Giari said.
“A five-hour window is pretty narrow,” he said. “It could make rail freight impractical, if not impossible.”
