Proposed port rail would redirect traffic

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is advocating a plan to use a rail system for the Los Angeles/Long Beach port to get more trucks off the highways.

Rohrabacher hopes the Electrodynamic Cargo Conveyor system, which will employ a MagLev rail, will reduce pollution and traffic congestion to and from the complex. MagLev are energy-efficient trains that utilize magnetic levitation.

The project could potentially remove tens of thousands of trucks from roads in Southern California, he said in a news release Thursday.

“The first step will be to establish a joint powers agreement among the cities in Southern California, which represent over five million people,” Rohrabacher said. “This will become the necessary organizational structure to begin building the first segment of the project from dockside at the ports to a staging area a mile and half away. Our goal is to break ground within three years, eventually completing the route to Victorville and Beaumont where containers are offloaded for national distribution.”

— Chris Caesar