Railroad Operations Questions and Answers

1. What is the number of trucks that would be entering facility during a typical 24 hour period?  Is there any day of the week or time of day when traffic would be heavier?
   
• The term “facility” needs a bit of clarification.  The Logistics Park includes warehousing (with and without direct rail service) and the Intermodal Facility.  It is anticipated that the Intermodal Facility will generate approximately 2000 truck trips/day at start-up.
• Opening year projections are 1,822 for Intermodal trucks, 286 for Intermodal employees, 1,638 for rail-served warehouse, and 2,190 non-rail-served warehouse/distribution for a total of 5,936.  –Table B-1, Traffic Study of the Proposed Logistics Park, by HDR prepared for BNSF on March 14, 2006. 
  
  
2. Number of trains coming into the facility on a normal day? 
   • Again, the term “facility” includes all aspects of the Logistics Park.  It is anticipated that the equivalent of seven to ten 7000-foot trains would be arriving or departing the Intermodal facility during a 24hr. period and, by 2025, up to 30 trains per day.  Trains that transport product for the rail-served warehousing would be anticipated to be less frequent.
     
     
3. Will trucks and trains be coming into facility seven days a week, 24 hours a day?
• Yes, but will vary by day and hour with peak periods. 
• The Logistics Park will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Truck traffic to and from the facility on weekends will be less than during the week because receivers of shipments are typically closed on weekends. However, train traffic and Intermodal loading and unloading within the facility will remain constant.

4. How many more trains per day through Gardner? If so, how will this increase affect the normal auto traffic in and around Gardner?
• This will not increase traffic through Gardner.  Initially there will be a reduction, though minimal, through Gardner because those trains coming into the Intermodal will be coming in and turning around at the facility and heading back to the West Coast.  However, as traffic increases due to increased consumer demands from products made overseas, the rail traffic on BNSF’s main line between the Port of Los Angeles and Chicago will increase.  This increase will happen regardless of the project.  The line running through Gardner is part of the transcontinental main line for BNSF. 
• As the global economy grows and changes, so does the volume of shipments, which gradually increase both train frequency and train length.  This traffic includes a variety of train types including coal, bulk commodities such as grain, and mixed freight, but most of the growth in trains is in intermodal traffic, which is the shipment of truck trailers and containers by train.  If BNSF builds a new Intermodal facility west of Gardner, Intermodal trains that would normally travel to its current Intermodal Hub center in Kansas City, Kansas will stop west of Gardner instead.  They would then unload and load and turn to go west again to typically California or Texas.
• The potential development of the facility would include realignment of the eastbound mainline track which restricts maximum train speeds to 55 mph because of the curvature of the track.  The realignment of this curved track next to the straight westbound main will result in an increase of maximum train speeds to 70 mph.  This would enable most eastbound through trains to reduce the time it takes through at-grade highway/rail crossings in that area.

5. After trucks clear traffic and arrive at facility does a backup of trucks occur?
• We have not observed a back up of trucks at other facilities.   Likely there would be a road necessary for the facility to accommodate any stacking of trucks coming into and going out of the facility.  However, if the project proceeds this is an area that the Planning Commission for the City of Gardner would address as part of the planning process. 
• This type of facility is typically designed to allow trucks to queue from the entrance road onto the facility property rather than backup on public roads.  It is not anticipated or desired to have trucks lining up on public roadways entering the facility.

7. Will there be backups of city traffic due to trains stopped for excessive periods of time?
• If the proposed grade separations on Waverly Road are built, there should not be a backup of traffic.  Currently there are traffic backups in Edgerton, and grade separations will need to be considered there to alleviate this issue. 
• Busy rail lines like the one through Gardner carry many of the food, consumer and electronic products we depend on every day.  Railroads such as BNSF must keep the train traffic moving in order to help deliver those products to consumers, including consumers in Gardner and the greater Kansas City region.  They can’t do that efficiently if trains are stopped for excessive periods on their busiest main lines. This potential facility is designed to accept trains as quickly as safe train operations will allow.  Should the facility reach train capacity, then trains awaiting arrival would typically be queued at other rail yards, such as at Emporia, to avoid blocking the main line.
  
  
8. What is the typical "wait" time for an incoming truck, and where do they typically hang out, while waiting to go pick up their load?

9. Will containers be inspected at this facility for drugs, illegal immigrants, terrorist bombs, etc.?
• Containers are inspected for illegal contraband, illegal immigrants and other security risks at the point of entry by Customs and Port Authority operations.  At the point of origin, seals are placed on all containers.  The integrity of the seal and container are inspected upon arrival at a BNSF facility prior to acceptance.  If there is an exception found on the container or applied seal upon arrival, it is immediately investigated by BNSF Resource Protection to determine tampering or potential loss of lading.

10. It is my understanding the trains would be coming from the West Coast.  Would this be changing in the future to include Southern, Eastern, etc. routes and would the facility be expanded as the routes are increased?
    • This facility is being planned to handle freight moving to and from the Kansas City region, primarily from California, Chicago, and to a lesser extent, Texas and the Pacific Northwest. It is usually not economical for a shipper to use an Intermodal facility in one region to handle traffic for another region of the country. That is because the normal pickup and delivery radius for loads coming to or from any Intermodal Hub Center is between 200 and 250 miles. Most shippers trying to truck beyond that radius find it is cheaper to truck the load entirely, or to use an Intermodal facility closer to the actual destination.
    • BNSF’s overall Intermodal marketing strategy targets long-haul train business. The large investment in the opening and continued operation of an Intermodal facility encourages BNSF to utilize the facility capacity and resources to handle traffic which will provide higher revenues which exist in long haul lanes

11. Have light pollution standards been examined, such as ‘lamp shades’, for the lighting poles which results in the lights being turned downward to the ground?
    • Yes, this has been discussed.  BNSF will have to work with the Gardner Planning Commission on issues such as lighting as part of the approval process if the project moves forward.
    • There are several mitigating options for controlling stray light from facilities such as the Logistics Park.  Some of these options include:
      • Focused “dark skies” reflectors to direct the light to areas of need and reduce stray light
      • Mounting lights on the cranes to reduce site lighting needs
      • Specifying appropriate light bulbs, i.e. High Pressure Sodium (yellow light source similar to street lighting vs. Metal Halide (white light source similar to a auto sales log).
        

12. Could this project go to Desoto at the old Sunflower site?  Why not Wellsville or Ottawa?  Were there other locations in the Gardner area that could be investigated as an alternative?
    • No.  The Sunflower site is not located off the BNSF main line, which is necessary for this to be an economically feasible project for BNSF. 
    • Other sites did not meet the BNSF qualifications, related to access to the interstate, length straight track, geographic constraints, and proximity to a workforce. 
    • One other location in the Gardner area was examined.  This was the northwest corner of the I-35 and 175th Street interchange.
    • Only locations that are adjacent to this main line track make sense. This site appears to offer a balance of benefits to both the community and shippers.

13. Why isn't the facility being located further away from Gardner?  What is the mileage?  Is it 10 miles like one of the other sites?  Maybe the other side of I-35 would be better? 
    • This is the site that BNSF chose to pursue
    • It is within one mile of Gardner’s current city limit, currently the site is in unincorporated Johnson County. 
    • There are residential developments within a mile of other Intermodal Logistics Parks in the U.S. 
    • BNSF main line does not exist on the east side of I-35. 
    • Other site locations were considered and this site is the leading candidate site. It is the proximity of this site to this particular rail line that is the first consideration. This route, called the Transcon, is the busiest Intermodal route in the nation, carrying millions of truck trailers and containers through the Kansas City area by train instead of on the local freeways. That is a tremendous amount of traffic relief for our freeways, such as I-35, not to mention the reduction in environmental emissions and fuel because trains are three times as fuel efficient as trucks.
    • A small fraction of those trains would actually stop at this potential facility and load and unload shipments for customers in the Kansas City region. That is why it is most important that any site be located next to this busy main line.