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As traffic continues to increase, capacity remains a top Class I concern. BNSF Railway Co. is trying to answer the capacity bell in a big way in the Chicago area. The railroad is expanding BNSF Logistics Park - Chicago (LPC) — the Class I’s largest facility expansion this year.

By June 1, BNSF plans to complete a 20-acre wheeled parking area, 50-acre public container yard and fourth 8,000-foot track at LPC, which provides direct rail, truck, intermodal, transload, warehousing and distribution services.

Later this year, BNSF also expects to complete 5,500-foot support tracks, add 90 car spots and 10 checkpoint lanes, and acquire eight MiJack cranes.

After completing the work, the LPC’s annual strip-track capacity will increase to 1.16 million units. In addition, the facility’ hub groundstack and chassis rack capacity will rise to 6,440 units and 1,600 units, respectively. The LPC also will feature 4,013 total wheeled parking spaces and 1,300 container yard wheeled parking spaces.

BNSF recently increased the frequency of LPC’s train operations to Los Angeles from three days to six days per week, and eliminated unnecessary block swaps to increase train capacity and improve throughput at the facility.