BNSF to Build New Integrated Rail Complex in Barstow to Increase Supply Chain Efficiency Nationwide
Oct 1
First-of-its kind integrated facility will create 20,000 direct and indirect jobs, and reduce port and freeway congestion around the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
BARSTOW, Calif., Oct. 1, 2022 – BNSF Railway today announced plans to invest more than $1.5 billion to construct a state-of-the-art master-planned rail facility in Southern California – and the first being developed by a Class 1 railroad.
The Barstow International Gateway will be an approximately 4,500-acre new integrated rail facility on the west side of Barstow, consisting of a rail yard, intermodal facility and warehouses for transloading freight from international containers to domestic containers. The facility will allow the direct transfer of containers from ships at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to trains for transport through the Alameda Corridor onto the BNSF mainline up to Barstow. Once the containers reach the Barstow International Gateway, they will be processed at the facility using clean-energy powered cargo-handling equipment, and then staged and built into trains moving east via BNSF’s network across the nation. Westbound freight will similarly be processed at the facility to more efficiently bring trains to the ports and other California terminals.
“The Port of Long Beach welcomes BNSF’s planned Barstow International Gateway in the high desert. This project will help improve supply chain fluidity, reduce environmental impacts and enhance the competitiveness of California and the nation’s largest port complex,” said Mario Cordero, Port of Long Beach Executive Director.