BNSF Railway sets record for on-time performance, safety in Southern California
BNSF Railway officials reported that its Los Angeles Hobart Intermodal Facility set a record for on-time performance and safety.
The company’s Los Angeles facility, which handles the world’s largest quantity of domestic intermodal freight, set an on-time departure record of 94% in 2023, the company said.
Last year’s numbers surpassed the site’s 2012 high of 86%. These results were achieved all while completing the safest year on record for accidents and injuries, BNSF officials said.
“This achievement is a testament to strong local team execution, commitment to continuous improvement and the ongoing investments BNSF is making in Southern California,” BNSF California Division General Manager Richard Dennison said in a statement released on Thursday.
BNSF has expanded capacity at Hobart by 500 spaces and installed new crane stacking technology.
Additionally, BNSF is continuing a multi-year project to increase efficiency at its San Bernardino intermodal facility in the Inland Empire.
BNSF has also positioned 100 locomotives as a “ready fleet” across the West Coast and other strategic network locations to respond to any potential service disruptions.
BNSF in San Bernardino County
In 2023, BNSF completed a project to add a total of approximately 45 miles of triple track between Barstow and Needles, in San Bernardino County
BNSF is also continuing development on the Barstow International Gateway, a more than $1.5 billion master-planned rail facility that will be the first of its kind in the U.S.
The Barstow International Gateway will be an approximately 4,500-acre new integrated rail facility on the west side of Barstow, consisting of a rail yard, intermodal facility and warehouses for transloading freight from international containers to domestic containers, the Daily Press reported.
The facility will allow the direct transfer of containers from ships at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to trains for transport through the Alameda Corridor onto the BNSF mainline up to Barstow.
Once the containers reach the Barstow International Gateway, they will be processed at the facility using clean-energy powered cargo-handling equipment, and then staged and built into trains moving east via BNSF’s network across the nation.
Once complete, the Barstow facility will lower supply chain costs, reduce carbon emissions, reduce dwell at ports and provide a lower-cost rail move to an inland transload facility as compared to the current truck move to existing facilities, according to BNSF officials.
On the technology side, BNSF is investing in cleaner technologies, such as electric hostlers, as well as Load Plan Optimizer and Automated Yard Checks to improve efficiency.
BNSF Railway
Fort Worth-based BNSF Railway is one of North America’s leading freight transportation companies. BNSF operates approximately 32,500 route miles of track in 28 states and three Canadian provinces.
BNSF is one of the top transporters of consumer goods, grain and agricultural products, low-sulfur coal, and industrial goods such as petroleum, chemicals, housing materials, food, and beverages.
For more information on BNSF, visit BNSF.com.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: BNSF sets record for being on time, safety in Southern California
