$400 MILLION LOAN SLATED FOR ALAMEDA CORRIDOR.

Byline: Rick Orlov Daily News Staff Writer

A $400 million loan to help finance a 20-mile railway from the Port of Los Angeles to Union Station was announced Tuesday by President Clinton.

The $1.8 billion Alameda Corridor project - scheduled to be completed in 2001 - would dramatically increase the capacity for trade in Los Angeles by more quickly moving materials off the docks and into the city, officials said.

President Clinton, in a written statement released Tuesday, called the loan "a critical investment in Southern California, our nation's largest gateway to the Pacific Rim." It is contained in the budget proposal Clinton sent Tuesday to Congress.

Mayor Richard Riordan said during a news conference that the corridor will be a boon to the economy.

"This will go a long way to reach our goal for the Alameda Corridor," the mayor said. "When I took office, people told me that the Alameda Corridor project was a pipe dream, that it couldn't happen, that there were too many obstacles."

As many as 100 trains a day are expected to run along the corridor that cuts through seven cities, boosting trade from its present $116 billion a year to $253 billion.

Under the loan agreement, Los Angeles will receive $59 million this year to begin construction of the project.

Subsequent federal budgets will include the additional funds, with the money to be repaid over 30 years from user fees once the trains begin to run.

The remaining costs are being picked up primarily by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, with some other state and federal funding.