The Alameda Belt Line (reporting mark ABL) was incorporated on January 12, 1925 to take over about 1.2 miles (1.9 km) of trackage constructed by the city of Alameda, California on Clement Avenue in 1918. The company acquired the property on February 17, 1926 and was jointly owned by the Western Pacific Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Due to mergers, it was eventually jointly owned and operated by the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad. For much of its later history, the ABL was operated in concert with the Oakland Terminal Railway.