Port-rail plan off track?

Key player Union Pacific says it won't bid on Mexico-to-U.S. project
By Diane Lindquist
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 2, 2007

Union Pacific Railroad revealed yesterday that it does not plan to proceed with plans to develop a rail line from the Colonet megaport in Baja California into the American heartland.

The port is slated to be built at Punta Colonet, a bay 150 miles south of San Diego. Mexican officials have described it as an alternative to the increasingly saturated ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, saying it would be as large as the two ports combined and each year process 6 million to 8 million TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, the standard measure for containerized cargo.

A 200-plus-mile rail line that would traverse Baja California and connect to the U.S. system is considered essential to carrying the mostly Chinese goods across the United States.