Patriot Rail aims to increase traffic, meet customer needs via Class I partnerships
9/19/2025
By Bridget Dean, Associate Editor
In early 2024, BNSF Railway Co. approached Patriot Rail Co. to propose collaborating on an intermodal facility in Salt Lake City. By mid-July 2025, the facility was receiving shipments.
BNSF planners had been trying to develop an intermodal facility in the Salt Lake City region for years, says Patriot Rail Chief Commercial Officer Tom Tisa. The Class I previously had no intermodal presence in the market, and customers only had one intermodal rail service option.
“From [an] intermodal perspective, customers always like to have options,” Tisa says. “Customers were excited about having an alternative in Salt Lake City.”
The BNSF-owned facility sits on about 40 acres along one of Patriot Rail’s short-line railroads in the region, the Salt Lake Garfield & Western Railway. The facility handles intermodal traffic coming from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
BNSF Railway Co., Patriot Rail, and local and state officials formally commemorated the Salt Lake City facility’s opening with a ribbon cutting on July 31. Patriot RailPatriot Rail and BNSF quickly developed a terminal on a greenfield site owned by Patriot Rail, preparing it for container traffic. Patriot Rail handles terminal operations, says Tisa. Phase two of the project — expanding container storage capacity — is underway and will be completed by the end of 2025, he adds.
"We start with a core terminal to get something up and running, and then we expand it as we go,” Tisa says.
Growth generator
The BNSF terminal project is but one example of how Patriot Rail has strategically grown its portfolio of rail-served sites and short lines. Over the last five years, the company has doubled in size through acquisitions and new service offerings. To reflect that strategic approach, the company in 2024 rebranded from a “Partner in Growth” to a “Growth Generator.”
“Our wheelhouse these days has been industrial parks,” Tisa says.
Within the last year, Patriot Rail has also worked with Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Union Pacific Railroad to develop rail-served industrial sites in Denton, Texas, and Denver. Patriot Rail now owns over 30 railroads in the United States and connects with all six Class Is.
“I think we’ve done a good job of being very nimble to be able to move quickly, to make decisions quickly,” Tisa says.
Patriot Rail Chief Commercial Officer Tom TisaThe speed at which the Salt Lake City intermodal terminal was developed is probably something only a short line could do, he adds.
“We’re really proud of the fact that we are able to do this for BNSF and its customers, who in turn are our customers, too,” says Tisa.
