Today, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Port of Oakland reached an agreement, under which BNSF would operate the Port's soon-to-open Oakland International Gateway joint intermodal terminal and provide service to third-party users.
Oakland International Gateway would tie into BNSF's network through trackage rights and access conditions approved by Surface Transportation Board as part of the 1995 Union Pacific Railroad/Southern Pacific Railroad merger settlement agreement.
The $38 million terminal — which was partially funded with $22.1 million in federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 and Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century grants — will include 13,300 feet of loading and unloading track designed to accommodate 410 40-foot containers at a time, 10,100 feet of storage and support tracks, and storage space for 1,245 containers.
After the 85-acre, near-dock facility opens in mid-March, BNSF and port officials believe the initial 250,000-containers-per-year terminal annually will take more than 20,000 trucks off Interstate 80.
"This facility will provide the shipping community additional capacity on the West Coast and give BNSF's customers a direct link to our rail network — as opposed to a 12-mile truck dray over the highways to our intermodal facility in Richmond, [Calif.]," said Steve Branscum, BNSF group vice president, consumer products marketing, in a prepared statement.
Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News
