BNSF expanding Stockton rail yard

By The Record

Posted Mar. 29, 2016 at 5:30 PM

STOCKTON — BNSF Railway is beginning an expansion of its intermodal rail yard in Stockton as part of $180 million in planned capital expenditures in California this year.

Railroad spokeswoman Lena Kent said the work in Stockton over the next two years will include the addition of 7,000 feet of loading and unloading track and adding approximately 300 truck/container parking stalls.

“Once it is completed, the facility will have over 2,175 parking stalls and 28,000 feet of track,” she said in an email.

As an intermodal yard, the business of the facility in southeast Stockton is transferring cargo shipping containers between truck trailer chassis and rail cars; in other words, switching freight from one mode of transportation to another.

Most of BNSF’s capital spending in California will go toward track maintenance — replacing and upgrading rail, rail ties and rock ballast.

That work in California includes maintenance of approximately 1,100 miles of track, replacement of about 35 miles of rail and more than 70,000 ties, as well as signal upgrades for the federally mandated positive train control system.

Besides the Stockton intermodal upgrade, BNSF said it will add more parking capacity at its San Bernardino automotive and intermodal facilities.

BNSF Railway is one of North America’s leading freight transportation companies, with about 32,500 miles of track in 28 states and three Canadian provinces, mostly west of the Mississippi River.

Based in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

http://www.recordnet.com/news/20160329/bnsf-expanding-stockton-rail-yard