VANCOUVER, Wash. – Local leaders broke ground Thursday towards a new rail terminal at the Port of Vancouver which would create a thousand permanent jobs and eliminate rail congestion.

“Our rail project is, I believe the most ambitious forward thinking in the history of this port,” said Larry Paulson, Port of Vancouver Executive Director.

The project will be funded by $2.5 million in federal stimulus money plus state and port funds. It would also create 1,900 jobs for the next year as construction continues and 1,000 permanent jobs once the rail terminal is finished.

The terminal will be built on the same site as the old Alcoa aluminum plant, which was being used as temporary storage for wind turbine parts.

Also, the terminal will triple the port’s rail car capacity and remove a bottleneck for trains moving through Vancouver.