City of Barstow Announces Expansion of Barstow Railyard

BARSTOW, Calif. — On October 31, 2018, the City of Barstow announced at the Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee meeting the expansion of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) facilities in Barstow, CA with grading work currently taking place to construct an intermodal facility. 

Complete project details have not been released by BNSF Railway to date, but the news released today could mean expansive growth for the Barstow community.

Barstow sits at the crossroads of opportunity, with Interstates 15 and 40 converging in the city and State Route 58 connecting Barstow and Southern California with the Central Valley and Northern California.

CalTrans is in process of converting two lane portions of SR 58 in the Barstow area into a four-lane freeway to alleviate congestion and ease goods movement. This east-west highway improvement will open travel paths across the state and throughout the country with the possible avoidance of Los Angeles area traffic congestion and near capacity ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The construction of the intermodal facility will necessitate the need for warehousing, trucking and storage facilities and has the potential to bring expansive job growth to the community. 

 Barstow is the major BNSF maintenance hub for California. Nearly all of the trains leaving or arriving in California pass through the BNSF Barstow Railyard. Trains are reconfigured in the BNSF Barstow Railyard and all trains receive a crew change. Furthermore, Barstow is the major California location for services to trains and locomotives, including engine refueling and technical services. 

(source: Lee & Associates news release)