Alameda Corridor North

The North-End Project Area begins where cargo trains emerge from the Mid-Corridor Trench at the Union Pacific J-Yard and Santa Fe Avenue in the City of Los Angeles near the border of City of Vernon, and continues eastward toward the transcontinental rail hubs (BNSF Hobart and UP East LA).

The Alameda Corridor reduces delays for all types of traffic by constructing grade separations, overpasses, underpasses and bridges so trains and public and private vehicular traffic can travel unimpeded. The north area experiences heavy rail cargo traffic, truck traffic and passenger rail traffic because of the juxtaposition of massive freight rail yards, industrial businesses and the Amtrak and Metrolink services from nearby Union Station.

Project descriptions can be found below.  A map depicting the various North End projects can also be viewed here.

The North-End Project area is situated in a very old section of the City of Los Angeles. Washington Boulevard was the center of Los Angeles until the 1930’s. As a result, during construction various shards of pottery, glass, and ceramic artifacts were discovered as grading of the area was performed. These artifacts were catalogued and kept for preservation.

The Redondo Junction Railroad Tower was built in 1906 and served the Los Angeles area until 2001. The Tower was staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 95 years.  The purpose of the Tower was to oversee the safe crossing of train and passenger traffic at the Redondo Junction where railroad lines crossed over each other. Operators inside the Redondo Tower performed signal and switching operations mainly through the use of a circa 1906 electric interlocking machine known as an “Interlocker”. The interlocker is a type of hand-operated signal and switching device. The Redondo Tower was the last wooden signal tower in California until it was lost to a fire in 2017.

The original Interlocker Machine survived and can be viewed at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California.

The Los Angeles River Bridge was the first major construction project of the Alameda Corridor.  The bridge is located north of Washington Boulevard, east of downtown Los Angeles.  The existing single-track bridge built in 1905 was replaced with a modern, 300-foot, triple-track railroad bridge.

Stretching for more than half a mile, the Redondo Junction Grade Separation separates passenger rail lines from cargo rail lines by elevating Metrolink and Amtrak trains over Soto Street, over the BNSF rail lines, over the Los Angeles River, over Washington Boulevard, and over the Alameda Corridor.

The project lowered Washington Boulevard, a major roadway for public transit, commercial vehicles and private vehicles to create an underpass separating vehicle and pedestrian traffic from rail traffic on the Corridor. The project also realigned an existing rail bridge to east of the new underpass. A new Santa Fe Avenue bridge that spans over the Alameda Corridor tracks was added between 25^th Street and 15^th Street in Los Angeles.  The project also increased storm-drain capacity and relocated culverts.

The UPRR mainline track connects with the Alameda Corridor just west of Soto Street in Los Angeles. A single- track steel throughgirder bridge existed at this location over Soto Street. To handle projected train volumes, a two-track connection replaced the single-track connection, requiring an entire new two-track bridge. Additionally, the alignment was pushed south to reduce track curvature and increase train speed.

Construction of the Washington Boulevard/Santa Fe Avenue Project was going to require a prolonged temporary closure of Washington Boulevard. Traffic would have to be routed to surrounding streets. Minerva Street would be one of those streets, but it was in major disrepair. This project upgraded the Minerva Street roadway and adjacent grade crossing protection. It included construction of curbs, gutters and sidewalks to promote traffic flow and eliminated storage use on the street.

The Downey Road Bridge is located adjacent to the BNSF mainline tracks that connect to the Alameda Corridor. The BNSF mainline tracks carry Amtrak and Metrolink passenger trains as well as BNSF freight trains. The bridge was designed to carry four tracks. However, in order to handle the projected Corridor traffic and provide the necessary interface with BNSF’s Hobart Yard, the bridge had to be widened for an additional track. In addition, the railroad right-of-way to either side of the bridge had to be modified for the new track arrangement.

Each of the three Alameda Corridor Construction Projects had its own unique construction and engineering challenges. On the North-End, one of those challenges was connecting existing railroad tracks to newly created tracks. The three North-End Connector projects were the solution. Each of these projects required extensive engineering to properly connect tracks and ensure the connections were seamless at the proper elevations, grade, curvature and imbalance, while also meeting all ACTA and Class I track design standards.

This section of the UPRR connector provided the necessary railroad track link into the trench portal.

New track was built to connect the BNSF Hobart Yard to the newly built Alameda Corridor.

This consisted of new track, signals and communications systems that are tied to the rest of the newly built Alameda Corridor track system.