Pacific Harbor Line
An SD20-2 engine owned by Pacific Harbor Lines works at Long Beach, California.
Overview
Parent companyAnacostia Rail Holdings Company
HeadquartersWilmington, California
Reporting markPHL
LocalePort of Los Angeles/Port of Long Beach, California
Dates of operation1998–present
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length18 mi (29 km)
Track length59 mi (95 km)
Other
Websiteanacostia.com/railroads/phl

The Pacific Harbor Line (reporting mark PHL) was formed in 1998 to take over the Harbor Belt Line (HBL). In 1998, the Alameda Corridor was nearing completion, allowing for a massive amount of railroad traffic from the largest harbors in the Western hemisphere: Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach.

The railroad has 18 route miles (29 km) with a web of 59 miles (95 km) of track.

Overview

The PHL, privately owned by the Anacostia Rail Holdings Company, operates on tracks and facilities owned by the ports. The PHL is a neutral switching railroad that serves shippers at this large port complex. PHL handles 40,000 carloads of freight a year, excluding intermodal traffic. The Alameda Corridor provides rail service to the port complex through the BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad.

History

The original Harbor Belt Line was formed in 1929 by a joint agreement of the city of Los Angeles and four major railroads: the Pacific Electric (PE) lines, the Southern Pacific (SP), the Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) and the Union Pacific (UP). Each railroad agreed to supply a quota of employees and equipment to provide switching services within a "unified zone" containing 117 miles (188 km) of track. The railroad also operated a joint freight agency for handling smaller station shipments.[1] PE merged into SP in 1965,[2] leaving three railroads to operate the HBL. The ATSF would also be part of a merger in 1996, forming the new Burlington Northern & Santa Fe (BNSF), and the SP and UP would merge into the current Union Pacific in February 1998.

Also in 1998, the HBL was re-organized as the Pacific Harbor Line to create a more even distribution system for shippers using the ports and the two surviving railroads (BNSF and UP). Although HBL's switching operations had been handled jointly, shippers could have problems getting their goods to or from the port depending on where an individual railroad interchanged with the HBL. The PHL aimed to resolve these issues.

Pacific Harbor Line was named the 2009 Short Line Railroad of the Year by Railway Age magazine.[3]

In July 2013, Pacific Harbor Line signed a new five-year collective agreement with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET), which has represented workers at the company since PHL was formed in 1998.[4] A new five-year contract was signed and took effect in September 2020.[3]

On March 31, 2020, Eduardo Moreno attempted to crash a PHL train into the hospital ship USNS Mercy, which was in the Port of Los Angeles to provide Los Angeles with additional hospital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic in California, but the train stopped approximately 250 yards (230 m) from the ship.[5]

PHL was the first railroad to have its locomotive fleet composed only of Tier II and Tier III "clean diesel" locomotives. An EMD Joule Battery Electric Locomotive arrived in 2023 for testing and demonstration purposes for 2 years.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "PE and the HARBOR BELT" (PDF). Pacific Electric Magazine. 28 (1): 2, 8. July 1947. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  2. ↑ Lennon, J. Establishing Trails on Rights-of-Way. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of the Interior. p. 51.
  3. 1 2 Marybeth Luczak (September 21, 2020). "Pacific Harbor Line Signs 5-Year Union Contract". Railway Age. Archived from the original on July 24, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  4. ↑ Douglas John Bowen (July 15, 2013). "Pacific Harbor Line, BLET sign pact". Railway Age. Archived from the original on August 28, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Prosecutors: Engineer deliberately ran train off tracks in attempt to smash the USNS Mercy". KABC-TV. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  6. ↑ Lustig, David (April 21, 2023). "EMD Joule Battery Electric Locomotive arrives in Southern California". Trains. Retrieved April 24, 2023.

Further reading

  • Fickewirth, Alvin A. (1992). California railroads: an encyclopedia of cable car, common carrier, horsecar, industrial, interurban, logging, monorail, motor road, shortlines, streetcar, switching and terminal railroads in California (1851–1992). San Marino, CA: Golden West Books. ISBN 0-87095-106-8.
  • Robertson, Donald B. (1998). Encyclopedia of Western Railroad History – Volume IV – California. Caldwell, ID: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. ISBN 0-87004-385-4.
  • Stindt, Fred A. (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide (5th ed.). Waukesha, WI: Kalmbach Publishing Co. ISBN 0-89024-290-9.
  • Walker, Mike (1997). Steam Powered Video's Comprehensive Railroad Atlas of North America – California and Nevada – Post Merger Ed. Faversham, Kent, United Kingdom: Steam Powered Publishing. ISBN 1-874745-08-0.
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