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On Jan. 26, BNSF Railway Co. marked the opening of a new rail-car shop and completion of two 9,200-foot inspection tracks at Gavin Yard, which is located east of Minot, N.D.

The 24,500-square-foot shop will house about 40 mechanical employees who previously conducted car repairs outdoors. Costing about $30 million, the shop and inspection tracks will help expand the Class I's infrastructure to more efficiently serve growing freight volumes in North Dakota and along the northern corridor, BNSF officials said in an announcement posted on the “BNSF News” web page.

Emerging crude oil business, combined with growing agricultural and intermodal traffic through Gavin Yard, has challenged mechanical workers to keep rolling stock available, they said, adding that the shop will help boost capacity and improve productivity.

In addition, the new inspection tracks will enable workers to inspect an additional six to eight trains every 24 hours, BNSF officials said.

“We average about 33 trains operating through Minot in a 24-hour period. Additionally, nine switch engines work at Gavin Yard serving local customers and building trains for their destinations,” said Dan Ferguson, BNSF’s superintendent of operations. “The 33-train figure includes an average of two unit crude oil trains through Minot per day.”