Business View Magazine
3
Harbor Line was created.”
Before PHL took over rail operations at the Ports, some
shippers were having problems getting their goods to or
from port because the tracks were owned by the differ-
ent Class 1 railroads that made up the Harbor Belt Line.
As a neutral switching railroad, responsible for making up
and breaking up trains, storing and classifying cars, and
serving the industries within the terminal yard, PHL, as a
private company, was considered to be better positioned
to create a level playing field for all the shippers on tracks
that now would be owned by the Ports, themselves, and
then leased to the railroads.
Initially, PHL handled the dispatching chores at the Henry
Ford Bridge, also known as the Badger Avenue Bridge, a
structure that handles all rail traffic between the Ports
and Terminal Island, where there are several marine ter-
minals. “It was crucial that they had a dispatcher that
handled that area,” says Cliatt. “PHL stepped in and
handled that from a management standpoint. From the
dispatching, we landed our first terminal job, which was
APL, (APL is one of the world’s leading ocean carriers). In
the early days, we had five switching jobs and we grew to
our current 37.”
Today, PHL has 175 employees and 25 locomotives,
providing all rail movements on 75 miles of port-owned
track. It offers interline, intra-plant, intra-terminal, and in-
ter-terminal switching; car storage; unit train movement;
and intermodal car repositioning. It dispatches all BNSF
and UN trains within the Ports, and serves nine on-dock
AT A GLANCE
WHO:
Pacific Harbor Line
WHAT:
A short line railroad that provides rail trans-
portation, maintenance, and dispatching services
WHERE:
Wilmington, California
WEBSITE
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