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Hello--

I would like to know how California can take better advantage of
the existing freight rail infrastructure to move freight more
efficiently.  

Caltrans is working on a California Rail Plan, and the Scoping Plan
update should take into consideration that plan. CARB is working on
getting cleaner locomotive engines.  The ports are all working on
freight rail issues.  

Rail is a more energy efficient mode than trucking.  CARB should
determine whether a thorough study has been done of how greater use
of freight rail might save on GHG emissions, reduce traffic
congestion from trucks, and reduce wear on roadways.  

We don't have a good study right now of how the economics and
energy efficiency of freight rail might help to reduce GHG
emissions.  This could start by making some reference in the
Scoping Plan to freight rail as a potential GHG solution.

One part of this issue is "logistics sprawl," which is the tendency
to locate warehouses on the urban periphery, e.g., Moreno Valley,
and then to truck goods to them from the ports of LA and Long Beach
over congested freeways.  These warehouses go in without even
considering freight rail.  

This is not an efficient practice, but cheap land on the urban
periphery is a crucial consideration for businesses.  The issues is
"sustainable logistics."  A visiting professor at USC just wrote a
paper about this issue in Los Angeles--

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810010748

A lot of companies are paying attention to this including DHL which
has an article here--

http://www.dp-dhl.com/content/dam/logistik_populaer/trends/StudieSustainableLogistics/study_towards_sustainable_logistics.pdf

The Scoping Plan needs to ask Caltrans be working on where the
opportunities are for using freight rail and how to partner with
UP, BNSF, and the shortlines to help get freight off freeways and
on rail.  

This could be a win for business and the environment, but it needs
to be elevated in our discussions.

Thank you