Alameda Belt Line
| Company type | Joint venture |
|---|---|
| Industry | Railroad |
| Founded | January 12, 1925 |
| Headquarters | Alameda , United States |
| Owner | BNSF Railway, Union Pacific Railroad |
The Alameda Belt Line was established on January 12, 1925, to manage approximately of track originally constructed by the city of Alameda, California along Clement Avenue in 1918. On February 17, 1926, the company took ownership of the property and was jointly held by the Western Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Subsequent mergers resulted in ownership passing to BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad.
Operations of the ABL ended in 1998 after its principal customer, a Del Monte cannery, shut down. Union Pacific maintained service through trackage rights for a single remaining client until late 2001. The line’s last locomotive was leased to the Central California Traction Company based in Stockton, California.
On January 28, 1999, the property was sold to a developer intending to construct about 200 residential units on the former rail yard site. However, the city of Alameda reclaimed the land through legal action by invoking a clause from the original contract that permitted repurchase at the 1920s price of $30,000 (equivalent to $966,027 in 2006), which was substantially lower than the developer’s $18 million purchase price.
By , most of the rails had been removed or covered with pavement; only limited track segments remain. The line was officially abandoned in 2012.
During much of its later period, ABL operations were coordinated with those of the Oakland Terminal Railway.
In 2024, the Alameda Belt Line designation and charter were reactivated for a subsidiary jointly owned by BNSF and Union Pacific that took over dispatching duties for the Alameda Corridor in Southern California.