IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
BNSF Railway will build a $1.5 billion rail facility in the High Desert.
The Barstow International Gateway, planned for 4,500 acres on the west side of the city, will include a rail yard, intermodal facility, and warehouses for moving freight from international containers to domestic containers, according to a statement released last week.
The gateway will make it possible to transfer containers from ships at the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports onto trains that will move the goods to Barstow, then across the nation, along the BNSF mainline.
The project, which will be built mostly on undeveloped land, is expected to create about 20,000 jobs, either directly or indirectly, according to the statement.
“BNSF’s planned Barstow International Gateway will improve cargo velocity through our port and reduce truck traffic on our freeways,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, in the statement. “This project will help ensure that goods moving through the San Pedro Bay will get to consumers, businesses, and manufacturers with speed and reliability.”
Based in Ft. Worth, Texas, BNSF is one of the top freight transportation companies in North America. The company operates an estimated 32,500 track miles in 28 states, according to a statement on the company’s website.
