LOS ANGELES-BNSF Railways of Dallas has agreed to create 1,500 union jobs for the construction of the $500-million Southern California International Gateway. The deal is worth an estimated $255 million in wages for the three-year construction period.

To be located several miles inland from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the planned intermodal facility is expected to transfer up to 1.5 million cargo containers from trucks to rail annually upon completion in 2007, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. A BNSF spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that she expects that number to rise eventually to 2 million containers.

The announcement is a welcome boost for local employment during the slow economic recovery in California, where unemployment remained stuck at 11.9% in October, according to the state Economic Development Dept.