Last Friday morning after visiting Kaiser in La Palma, I decided to take a drive up Valley View Street into the City of La Mirada to check out rail traffic on the BNSF. I found a large grade separation project in progress. After meandering through a business park at the northwest corner of Valley View and Stage Road, I struck up a conversation with a soil compaction checker and was pointed to a sign down the street explaining the project. To make a long story short, this is part of a much larger project called the Third Main Track and Grade Separation Project which runs 14.7 miles from the City of Commerce in LA County to Fullerton in Orange County. Over the years I have noticed (from the train) portions of the third main track being installed with dead ends through this area. Now it all makes sense with the project being done in stages. Valley View and Stage Road at the BNSF is a complicated grade crossing with something like 130 trains per day intersecting an arterial highway with 40,000 vehicles per day. While I was there over a half hour period, no less than 3 trains passed, one BNSF container train, one Metrolink and one Amtrak. There are already 3 main tracks at this location.

At this time, the project is moving utilities and setting up for the rail shoo-fly. BNSF has already imported long sections of rail and has ties sitting on flatcars on a nearby industrial branch. It was quite foggy, so the photos aren't so good.


In my rearview mirror while driving westbound on Gannett Street, I noticed a n/b Amtrak and got a grab shot as it crossed Valley View Street.

These ties are likely for the project and will be used in the next several months. Notice the Santa Fe and BNSF cabooses off in the distance.

I found a BNSF local with one hopper car stuffed into a track behind Airgas Specialty Products waiting for their chance to move somewhere. I left before they did. The BNSF La Mirada Yard is slightly east of here and is already grade separated at Alondra Blvd. and Stage Road.


Links:
Valley View Grade Separation Project Overview [vvgs.org]
CalTrans Announcement [caltransd7info.blogspot.com]
2003 Notice of meetings, EIR, etc. [www.dot.ca.gov]