BNSF operates first unit train for new TransCold Express service

On June 4, the first BNSF Railway Co. unit train departed from Wilmington, Ill., to officially launch the TransCold Express.

A hub-to-hub refrigerated box-car service provided by McKay TransCold and operated by BNSF, TransCold Express targets produce growers and meat and dairy producers moving refrigerated cargo bi-directionally between Wilmington and Selma, Calif.

Fresh and frozen cargo is transferred from trucks to box cars at a new 49,000-square-foot refrigerated building operated by National Logistics and Cold Storage in the RidgePort Logistics Center, a 1,500-acre industrial park located 40 miles southwest of Chicago. The logistics center also is situated three miles from BNSF Logistics Park-Chicago in Elwood, Ill., and accesses a BNSF mainline running along the park’s western boundary and Interstate 55.

TransCold Express will transport such products as vegetables, fruit, cheese and butter from California to the Midwest, and meat, eggs, cheese, butter, finished goods and dairy creamers from Illinois westbound. The service takes about four days to reach the Midwest from California.