Pacific Harbor Line

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Pacific Harbor Line
logo
Reporting marks PHL
Locale Port of Los Angeles/Port of Long Beach, California
Dates of operation 1998 – present
Track gauge ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters Wilmington, California

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

The train has 18 route miles with a web of 59 miles of track.

The reason for the formation of the PHL was to create a level playing field for shippers. Up to that time, the HBL was owned and operated by the major railroads in Los Angeles; the Southern Pacific, the Santa Fe Railway and the Union Pacific. The PHL, in contrast, is privatly owned by the Anacostia & Pacific Company. It operates on tracks and facilities owned by the ports.

One of the problems with the HBL arrangement was that shipper could have problems getting their goods to or from the port depending on where an individual railroad's track ended.

The PHL hailed itself as a neutral switching railroad that could reliably serve shippers at this large port complex. PHL handles 40,000 carloads of freight a year and that is not including intermodal traffic.

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[edit] References

  • 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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Current (operating) Class III railroads of the United States (Class I railroad - Class II railroad)
Historic (fallen flag) Class III railroads of the United States

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