A proposed railway project that would increase the Port of Long Beach’s ability to transport cargo via train can move forward, after the City Council on Tuesday denied two appeals challenging the results of an environmental study.

In a unanimous vote, the council approved the port’s environmental impact report, which examined how the more than-half-billion-dollar rail yard expansion would affect air quality, traffic and noise.

“We believe that’s the correct decision given the findings of the EIR,” said Lee Peterson, a spokesman for the Port of Long Beach. “We will continue to engage and meet with local stakeholders there so they have input.”

The port can now begin planning in earnest for the project: coming up with a budget for the project, further designing the specifics of the expansion, finding companies to work on the various aspects of construction and acquiring properties that sit in the project’s path.

The rail yard expansion covers 171 acres; construction is slated to begin in 2020 and take seven years to complete.

It would cost between $540 and $820 million.

The project would expand the number of tracks at the Pier B rail facility, the only one that connects to the docks, from 12 to 48.

Expanding the facility, port officials say, is crucial if they are to meet their goal of transporting between 30 and 35 percent of shipping containers via on-dock rail by 2030. Currently, 24 percent of containers are shipped by rail and the rest by truck.

But the expansion would also force the closure or relocation of multiple businesses in the project zone, and permanently shut down Ninth Street west of the Los Angeles River.

It will be several months before the port “will move forward with acquisition” of the properties, Peterson said. But the environmental report’s approval “gives businesses clarity on what is going to happen at some point.”

The environmental study, required by state law, went before the Board of Harbor Commissioners in January and was approved. But two companies near the proposed project site – Phillips Steel Company and Superior Electrical Advertising – filed appeals, saying the study did not adequately address the affects it would have on their business.

By shooting down the appeals, the council upheld the Harbor Board of Commissioners’ certification of the report.

It’s unclear what recourse the appellants now have to further challenge the environmental impact report, but Stan Janocha, the chief operating officer of Superior, said he and the rest of management will meet with legal counsel on Thursday.

“I’m disappointed, frustrated and sad,” Janocha said. “I’m disappointed the council decided to go this way, where there will be more pollution in a lower-income and business neighborhood.”

Janocha added that besides speaking to counsel, he’s also exploring other options, such as moving his business out of Long Beach.

“We’ve been around here a long time,” he said, noting that one-third of his workforce lives in the city. “Leaving Long Beach is one option. We have some things to think about.”