BNSF Railway announced the Barstow International Gateway project has been approved by the Barstow City Council.
The approval marks a major milestone for the significant California freight infrastructure investment. The gateway, also known as BIG, is a 4,500-acre, state-of-the-art integrated rail facility on the western side of Barstow, and includes a rail yard, an intermodal facility and transload warehouses designed to shift freight efficiently and sustainably from international containers to domestic ones. The project is the first of its kind and will improve supply chain efficiency while creating thousands of jobs, reducing highway congestion and supporting freight movement nationally and internationally, officials said.
“BIG is a transformative, next generation rail facility that will deliver meaningful benefits for our customers,” BNSF president and CEO Katie Farmer. “By creating a more resilient, efficient and low-carbon freight system, we’re giving shippers faster, more reliable inland access and greater network fluidity. 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.”
Containers that arrive at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will move from ships to trains via the Alameda Corridor and onto the BNSF mainline to Barstow. Once at BIG, the containers will be processed using zero emission cargo-handling equipment, then staged and built into trains headed east on the railroad’s national network. Westbound freight will also be consolidated at the facility.
“BIG is designed with our customers at the center,” BNSF EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Tom Williams. “By streamlining the handoff from the San Pedro Bay Ports to our national network, we’re improving transit times, increasing capacity and enhancing service reliability across long-haul corridors. This facility will help our customers compete in a global marketplace by ensuring their freight moves efficiently, sustainably and with fewer bottlenecks from origin to destination.”
The project will shift container sorting and processing from congested port-adjacent communities to the high desert hub of Barstow, allowing for a major mode shift from trucking to cleaner, more efficient rail. The shift is predicted to eliminate some 205 million truck miles traveled in 2028, 269 million TMT in 2033 and 312 million TMT in 2048.