SFBR operates an industrial switching operation that folds 10,000 feet of track into a railroad about a half mile long on the southern waterfront of the Port of San Francisco, CA. SFBR uses two ALCO S-2 switcher locomotives in their operations.
SFBR’s core business is moving contaminated soils in containers and gondola cars from various San Francisco construction projects by rail to Utah. Trains are typically 60 cars long and each car can carry 100 to 130 tons, the equivalent of 300 heavy duty diesel trucks. Locomotives in switcher facilities operate at speeds averaging ten miles per hour over short distances typically less than four miles. Additionally, SFBR runs the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility for the Port of San Francisco and assists the Port’s maritime cargo customers with intermodal cargo movement in and out of the Port’s cargo terminals.