High Desert city says yes to massive freight/railway project

Barstow International Gateway, a 4,500-acre freight- infrastructure facility that will be built by BNSF Railway, has been approved by the city.

The $4 billion rail and logistics hub will make it easier to move international freight from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Barstow, while positioning the High Desert town (pop. 25,000) as a potential national economic force.

The city council unanimously approved the project June 2 during a special meeting at the Barstow Performing Arts Center. It will be built on the west side of the city.

“Barstow International Gateway epitomizes our commitment to a bright future for the city,” Mayor Tim Silva said in the statement. “We’re proud to partner with BNSF Railway to bring thousands of jobs, billions in economic output, and major infrastructure improvements to Barstow.”

“BIG” will be made up of a rail yard, an intermodal facility – in which freight is transported by several means of transportation while remaining in the same container – and transload warehouses, which are designed to move freight from international to domestic containers efficiently.

Containers will travel from the ports along to the transcontinental rail yards near downtown Los Angeles via the Alameda Corridor, a 20-mile freight expressway that connects those two locations.

From there, goods will transported to BIG on BNSF’s main rail line. That process will improve transit times, increase capacity, and improve service between the ports and the High Desert, according to BNSF.

Groundbreaking, and the start of construction, is expected late this year or early 2027. The project is expected to begin full operations in 2027 and 2028, according to BNSF.

One commercial real estate agent in the High Desert calls BIG “a once in a lifetime project” that will transform not only Barstow, but the entire market.

“Like a lot of people up here, I’m excited to see this happen, said Joseph Hisquierdo, senior associate with Lee & Associates Victorville and an industrial broker with that office for the past 11 years. “The BNSF facility, that’s here now employs about 1,000 people. BIG is going to be a large expansion of that and that will be a good thing for the High Desert.

“It will be a boon for the whole region, not just Barstow, which has always been a railroad town.”

During its first 20 years in operation, BIG is expected to create 5,400 jobs, nearly $940 million in total earnings, and close to $3 billion in economic output.

That will help Barstow pay for several large infrastructure upgrades, including replacing the Hinkley Road bridge over the Mojave River. It will also fund road upgrades to improve traffic flow and safety, including better access for emergency vehicles.

BIG will also make life easier in some urban areas, It’s expected to eliminate approximately 205 million truck miles traveled in 2028, 269 million miles in 2033, and 312 million miles in 2048, according to BNSF.

BNSF – formerly Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway – is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, the global investment and holding company based in Omaha, Neb. It is the largest freight-hauling company in North America, operating an estimated 32,500 miles of track in 28 states and three Canadian provinces, according to a BNSF statement.

BNSF has been in Barstow since 1886, when the town was called Waterman Junction. The city is named after BNSF’s founder, William Barstow Strong, president of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, BNSF’s predecessor.

The council approved BIG after a lengthy public hearing, during which the project was praised for how much it’s expected to help the local economy, but questioned about how it might disrupt neighborhoods.

“This is a significant undertaking, with the potential to have a far-reaching impact on transportation, economic development, environmental resources, and public safety,” City Manager Rochelle Clayton said. “But we know it can also generate strong feelings and differences of opinion.”

One speaker called BIG the result of “an unholy alliance” of Wall Street, BNSF,  and a combination of High Desert politicians and the region’s real estate sector.

“This project has not had a proper, and legally binding, environmental impact report,” Ryan Calbreath, an organizer with the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers and a longtime critic of BIG, told the council.

“This is an international project, and it will change the lives of the people who live around it,” Calbreath said. “I have six words for the people who think this development won’t impact them: It will come to your door.”

Some residents who live along Sylvan Road/Avenue asked BNSF to build a sound wall and construct several turn lanes along that thoroughfare, but were told that action would help only a few households, said Michael Brown, who said he lives in that community.

“We asked for mitigation and we aren’t seeing anything,” Brown told the council. “I agree that only a few people might get maximum benefit from a sound wall, but the whole community would be helped by it to some degree.

“I implore BNSF to give us a sound wall. This is going to be a 24/7 operation, and once it starts there will be no way to stop it.”

Any project as large as International Gateway will cause environmental concerns, but that’s no reason not to build the project, according to Hisquierdo.

“It seems like there are some things that can’t be mitigated,” Hisquierdo said. “There may be some noise, but BNSF is a good community member and it pays good wages. I think most people in Barstow are pleased this project is moving forward.”