BNSF Barstow International Gateway project approved by California city council

The Barstow City Council has approved BNSF Railway’s Barstow International Gateway (BIG) project, a planned 4,500-acre, rail and transload facility on the west side of Barstow, California. 

The planned project includes a rail yard, intermodal facility and transload warehouses. Once the facility is completed, containers arriving at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will move directly from ships to trains via the Alameda Corridor and onto the BNSF mainline to Barstow for processing. The relocation of container sorting processes to Barstow will reduce congestion at port communities, BNSF Railway officials said in a press release.

At BIG, containers will be processed and then built into trains headed east across BNSF’s national network. Westbound freight would also be consolidated at the facility, improving efficiency for trains returning to the ports and other California terminals.

This shift is projected to eliminate approximately 205 million truck miles traveled (TMT) in 2028, 269 million TMT in 2033 and 312 million TMT in 2048, BNSF officials said.

“BIG is a transformative, next generation rail facility that will deliver meaningful benefits for our customers,” said BNSF President and CEO Katie Farmer. "This $4 billion private investment strengthens the entire supply chain, reduces congestion at the ports and gives our customers a seamless product that also offers our customers greater optionality and flexibility.”

BNSF has committed to implementing environmental measures including zero-emission rail mounted gantry cranes, forklift and hostlers, hybrid rubber-tired gantry cranes, electric plug-ins for refrigerated units at the facility and battery-electric switcher locomotives.

The project will also include major infrastructure updates, including channel upgrades to reduce flooding, replacement of the Hinkley Road bridge over the Mojave River and roadway circulation enhancements.