Beginning of the Alameda Corridor (Carson, California)

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A $2.4 Billion, 20 mile long project that allows freight trains to run below grade level from the Los Angeles/Long Beach Port to the main train yards south of downtown
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The massive Alameda Corridor Project to improve rail access to and from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for Union Pacific and BNSF trains was placed in service April 12, 2002 although training and test trains ran earlier. The $2.4-billion project creates 20 continuous miles of multiple-track, grade-separated railroad through the heart of the Los Angeles area. It greatly reduces or eliminates delays to street traffic at more than 200 grade crossings, while increasing rail capacity and expediting trains, and should allow international container traffic by rail to continue its growth trends for many years.
As an example of the improvement, one previous route to the ports was a 28-mile single-track line including much 10-mph running which is now replaced by 17 miles of the new Corridor, allowing 40 mph speeds. The new trackage is 136-pound rail on concrete ties, including at turnouts.

The most impressive feature of the project is a 10-mile-long triple-track trench through dense urban areas. While the entire trench can accommodate three tracks, most of it has only two tracks installed at present. The 33-foot depth of the vertical-sided trench allows streets to pass over with a flat vertical alignment. Much landscaping and artistic enhancement has been done to make the line an asset to the areas through which it passes. This trench is believed to be the most expensive individual rail facility in world history built solely for the use of freight trains.