EDGERTON, KS-Demand doesn’t yet support it, but BNSF Railway Co. has decided to go ahead with its $250 million intermodal facility here with state assistance of $35 million. The 443-acre facility will be built on farmland near the planned 560-acre Logistics Park KC, being built by the Kansas City, MO-based Allen Group.
A BNSF spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that though the facility had been planned in the early part of the decade, the economic downturn killed demand for the project. “All freight transportation saw dramatic declines in their business,” he says.
However, the state, eager for new development and jobs, has announced a $35 million grant to the railroad from the state’s Rail Assistance Program. The plan is that the grant will be repaid from state utilities tax generated by the project and the logistics park.
The spokesman says without the grant, the railroad couldn’t justify the project. “If we waited for demand to pick up again, it might have been 2015-16 before it would have been done. This is a win-win for us and the state,” he tells GlobeSt.com.
Construction on the intermodal will begin by the end of the year, with site preparation and facility construction to commence in 2011. TJ Lambrecht Construction and Walsh Construction were recently hired as primary civil contractors to handle the job. “We expect the facility to be operational in the fourth quarter of 2013,” the spokesman says.
The company’s line for this intermodal begins in Long Beach, CA and ends in Chicago. The new facility will provide multi-modal transportation for many goods being imported from China and the Pacific Rim to delivered into the Midwest. The rail company has had success with intermodals, building four others in major hubs such as Austin, TX, and Joliet, IL.
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