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Comment 18 for Provides the public and stakeholders opportunities to provide "informal" public comments as part of ARB's 2013 Scoping Plan Update Workshop Series (2013-sp-update-ws) - 1st Workshop.
First Name: Eugene
Last Name: Wilson
Email Address: wilson1224@gmail.com
Affiliation:
Subject: Freight Rail
Comment:
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
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2013-07-30 19:04:35
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