BNSF Wins Approval for Barstow International Gateway Rail Facility in California

US freight operator BNSF Railway secured approval from Barstow City Council on 17 June 2026 for a rail facility in California's high desert, west of Barstow. BNSF's own project materials describe the investment at approximately $1.5bn, though some reporting has cited figures upward of $4bn; Railex has not been able to independently reconcile the two figures.

The Barstow International Gateway (BIG) will cover 4,500 acres and create capacity for 60 trains east of Los Angeles. The scale of the investment is among the largest in BNSF's current capital programme, according to project materials. The project is projected to create approximately 5,400 direct jobs over 20 years, according to Trains.com reporting citing project estimates.

The facility will include a rail yard, intermodal terminal and transload warehouses. The site is located in California's Inland Empire region, a major logistics corridor serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. BNSF frames the project as private investment in freight capacity expansion.

The approval follows years of planning for the facility, which will handle container traffic moving inland from West Coast ports. The 4,500-acre footprint makes it one of the largest single rail infrastructure investments in the United States in recent years. The 60-train daily capacity will support intermodal operations linking maritime and inland distribution networks.

BNSF Railway, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, operates one of the largest freight rail networks in North America. The Barstow facility will serve as a key node in the operator's transcontinental network, handling containers destined for markets across the western and central United States. Construction is expected to begin in late 2026 or early 2027, according to reporting around the June 2026 approval, though detailed phasing was not disclosed.