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July 2012 www.sname.org/sname/mt Research: tactics vs. strategies PBY is located within the ?East Basin? of POLB. It is connected to the Alameda Corridor (the dedicated rail connection between both ports and the Class I railroad mainlines), and to the on-dock terminals via main and secondary track segments. e East Basin network contains about ve miles of track. ere are several ultimate users of the East Basin rail network and the proposed PBY. ese users include the terminal oper- ators with on-dock rail (Mediterranean Shipping, Long Beach Container Terminal, International Terminal Services, and Paci c Coast Terminals); the Class I railroads (BNSF Railway and UP Railroad); and the rail oper- ator that switches all the terminals (Paci c Harbor Lines). Each of these operators faces numerous challenges each day. To build a system- level model, it was important to understand current operations, and how the various operators would use PBY once it is built. e modeling team conducted a series of on-site surveys and interviews with BNSF, Paci c Harbor Lines, and with each of the on-dock terminal operators. e results of these surveys highlighted that insu cient infrastructure creates dis- ruptive rail support practices. For example, the current situation forces many 10,000 ft. trains to do the rail version of a three-point turn (known as a ?wye? move), which is slow and blocks other tra c. e lack of long tracks at POLB to receive or depart a full-length train often requires trains to use main tracks for lengthy (3 hour) departure tests, prevent- ing other rail traffic from moving. Empty rail cars are not always available close by when needed, as there is little local storage, so terminals often hoard empty cars. ese are examples of tactics: using the infrastruc- ture in ways it was not originally intended, in order to deal with immediate needs. ese short-term tactics tend to cause unpredict- able operations and create an unproductive environment. e ideal size of PBY would be large enough to avoid such tactics. us, the rst question to be answered by the simula- tion analysis was re ned to, ?what is the ideal size for PBY to be operationally sustainable without the use of tactics?? The stage 1 unconstrained model A rail yard is made up primarily of very long arrival/departure tracks and numerous shorter rail car storage tracks. To measure the ideal size of PBY, the stage 1 model was created to measure the quantity of arrival/ departure tracks and storage tracks being used, without limiting them. In the model, if an arriving or departing train needs a track, the count is incremented; upon the train?s completion the count is decremented. e storage tracks operate similarly, with the assumption each track stores cars for only a single destination. At the end of each model run, the maximum number of tracks used was recorded and compared with the di er- ent concepts. There are other parts of the rail and intermodal network within the port that must work in conjunction with PBY to pro- vide an e ective system. ese include the tracks and resources within the marine ter- minals. e model accounted for r U S B D L T V T F E U P N P W F U S B J O T J O B O E around the East Basin, including the main tracks, the connection to the Alameda Corridor, and the tracks used to move cars between PBY and the marine terminals r U I F M F B E T B O E i M B E E F S T u B U 1 # : B M B E der being the track at the end of a yard, connecting the storage tracks with each other and the mains r U I F D B Q B D J U Z P G F B D I P G U I F N B S J O F U F S minals to lift containers to or from ra ilcars, including longshoreman shift schedules, the number of work- ing tracks, and the number of car spots at each terminal r $ M B T T * S B J M S P B E U S B J O T D I F E V M F T 6 1 B O E BNSF), and vessel schedules (or more accurately, container arrival schedules, i.e., when import containers became available for lifting onto trains). FIGURE 1: EAST BASIN SCHEMATIC WITH TRACK CAPACITIES