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Earlier this week, the Port of Everett, Wash., began building a rail/barge transfer facility at Edgewater Beach in Everett.

Connecting to a BNSF Railway Co. mainline, the facility will handle oversized aerospace parts and other goods that can’t be moved by standard rail cars or trucks. After being unloaded from a barge by an electric crane, the freight will move via rail to Paine Field airport.

Currently, oversized parts are moved by rail from Everett's Pacific Terminal to Paine Field — a process that shuts down BNSF’s mainline for about two hours. The new facility will reduce the shut down to 15 minutes. The in-water portion of the project is scheduled to be completed by February 2006.

Washington state provided a $15.5 million grant to the port; pier users will pay the remainder of the facility’s cost.