Local railroad company BNSF Railway announced Saturday that it is investing $1.5 billion to build a new facility in Southern California that could ease congestion at some of the busiest ports in the country.
The Fort Worth-based operator claims its prospective 4,500-acre integrated rail yard and intermodal facility, Barstow International Gateway, will “maximize rail and distribution efficiency regionally and across the U.S. supply chain and reduce truck traffic and freeway congestion in the Los Angeles Basin and the Inland Empire.”
The announcement comes more than a year after sporadic, crippling congestion and shipping backlogs at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach led to supply chain disruptions, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
BNSF Railway’s new facility is intended to process freight at the two ports, removing containers from ships and transferring them to eastbound trains on the company’s railroad network.
Katie Farmer, president and CEO of BNSF Railway, stated, “This will play a critical role in improving fluidity throughout our rail network, moving containers off the ports quicker, and facilitating improved efficiency at our existing intermodal hubs, including those in the Midwest and Texas.”
She suggested the project would create thousands of new railroad jobs in the area and indirectly spur economic activity in the High Desert region of southern California.
“Projects like BNSF’s will work to strengthen our inland local economies, such as that of Barstow in San Bernardino County,” stated Trelynd Bradley, deputy director of sustainable freight and supply chain development at the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
The prospective facility will no doubt come to good use as Los Angeles and Long Beach ports handle more shipping containers than any other port in the country, according to data published by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
As of Monday, BNSF Railway has not announced a timetable for the project’s completion.
