Railroad News

A California superior court judge's ruling this week has halted BNSF Railway Co.'s $500 million intermodal project near the Port of Los Angeles.

The ruling involved several lawsuits filed against a plan to build a 153-acre intermodal rail facility known as the Southern California International Gateway. The lawsuits were filed over concerns that the project would have a harmful effect on nearby neighborhoods and the environment.

Amazon.com Inc. has plans to build a 800,000-square-foot fulfillment center adjacent to BNSF Railway Co.'s Logistics Park Kansas City intermodal facility in Edgerton, Kan., the online retailer and state officials announced last week.

The fulfillment center, which is expected to employ 1,000 full-time workers, will pick, pack and ship large retail items to customers, according to a press release issued by Amazon.com.

BNSF Railway Co. has rolled out more of its 2016 state-by-state capital expenditure plans, with the latest programs announced for Texas, Illinois and Kansas.

In Texas, BNSF will spend $210 million this year to replace and upgrade rail, rail ties and ballast, BNSF officials said in a press release.

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday unveiled a new site certification program aimed at identifying optimal rail-served sites for customer development along the Class I's network.

To develop the program, BNSF drafted a list of candidates and conducted in-depth reviews of 10 economic development criteria to determine if the industrial sites meet the railroad's readiness standards. The standards are intended to minimize development risks customers may face, BNSF officials said in a press release.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice recently reached an agreement with BNSF Railway Co. over oil spill incidents in three states and the railroad's response plans in Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota, the agencies have announced.

Reached late last month, the agreement resolved alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act at several locations in the four states, according to an EPA press release.

Paradigm Energy Partners LLC announced yesterday that its Paradigm Midstream Services-ND LLC has finalized an agreement with a private company to construct a new gathering system for crude oil in North Dakota.

Under the proposed agreement, which is secured through an acreage dedication, the 23-mile gathering system will deliver 17,000 acres of production from the Ross Field in northern Mountrail County to Paradigm's joint venture rail terminal in Palermo, N.D., according to a company press release.