Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Phoenix Logistics Park

BNSF has started construction on their new $3.2 Billion Logistics Park northwest of Phoenix near the community of Surprise. Maricopa County is still working through the zoning and mitigation details, but BNSF has begun work on land they already own. The facility is expected to handle around 6,000 semi moves per day.
Does anyone have any insight on how this might affect traffic levels on the Peavine or the Arizona and California? The original completion estimate was 2028.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/26 22:32 by cbk.

Will it include carload transloads or carload warehouses??

BNSF's webpage shows an intermodal facility, a logistics park and a logistics center. Here is the link:
https://bnsflpp.com/

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coach Wrote:
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> Will it include carload transloads or carload
> warehouses??

The other BNSF Logistics Park facilities (Kansas City, Chicago, DFW) all have some element of carload operation. That's the big thing that distinguishes the "Logistics Park" model from the conventional intermodal facilities, as far as I know. The Chicago facility has the most carload customers at this point.

cbk Wrote:
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> BNSF has started construction on their new $3.2
> Billion Logistics Park northwest of Phoenix near
> the community of Surprise. Maricopa County is
> still working through the zoning and mitigation
> details, but BNSF has begun work on land they
> already own. The facility is expected to handle
> around 6,000 semi moves per day.
> Does anyone have any insight on how this
> might affect traffic levels on the Peavine or the
> Arizona and California? The original completion
> estimate was 2028.
>
 6,000 semi moves per day? How many  trains does that translate to.  I wonder if BNSF would try to buy back the Arizona and California line  for a better connection to Phoenix much like buying back  Montana Rail Link.

clickclack Wrote:
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>  6,000 semi moves per day? How many  trains does
> that translate to.  I wonder if BNSF would try to
> buy back the Arizona and California line  for a
> better connection to Phoenix much like buying back
>  Montana Rail Link.

Probably a couple hundred carloads. Theoretically if a good portion of it is dry van and reefer traffic then you likely only get a few hundred cars out of that. 

Current BNSF intermodal trains in and out of Phoenix are about 4/day.
Z-PHXWSP2 Tu-Th
Z-PHXWSP8 FrSa
Q-PHXCHI1 daily
Q-PHXATG1 CSX traffic is growing in response to UP-NS merger, ran two that I know of, maybe more in 2026.

Z-WSPPHX2 MoTu
Z-WSPPHX4 We
Z-WSPPHX6 Th-Sa
Z-WINPHX2 We-Fr
Z-WINPHX7 Sa-Tu
The above two collect ALT and LPK traffic for PHX.  Sometimes the traffic is set out at Clovis and Z-CLOPHX2 or Z-CLOPHX7 originate there instead of at Winslow.

mapboy

Edit: you would think they'd run a lot of Q-CHIPHX trains, but I've only seen two Q-CHIPHX6 in 2026.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/26 14:25 by mapboy.

clickclack Wrote:
 I wonder if BNSF would try to
> buy back the Arizona and California line  for a
> better connection to Phoenix much like buying back
>  Montana Rail Link.

That's an interesting thought.  I'm not sure how much traffic out of Phoenix on the BNSF is destined for the west but looking at mapboys post it would probably have to go east to Winslow before heading west.  Who knows,  if the Phoenix Logistics Park does well I can see them being interested in buying back the A&C.

yooperfan Wrote:
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> Say 6000 trucks per day equal 3000 daily lifts
> onto a car and 3000 off. And say a typical
> intermodal train can carry 400 boxes. That equates
> to 7+ trains in per day and 7+ out. Seems
> unbelievably high.

I've been searching online to get a copy of the Traffic Impact Study Report but have yet to find it, only statements of a pending submittal. Can anyone find that? Other documents I have found show varying counts of trucks between 6,000 per day and 18,000 per day, though none of those are study reports. If anyone has links to more detailed environmental documents, including traffic, and can post those links, it would be much appreciated.  

For comparison, BNSF's Hobart Yard in Los Angeles is its largest individual IM ramp. It handles 1,500,000 + lifts/year, which equates to roughly 6,000 truck trips per peak day. It is unlikely that Wittmann will generate anywhere near that amount in the foreseeable future. A count of 6,000 trucks per day, or more, is more than likely total truck trips in and out of the overall logistics project, including drayage to and from the IM ramp to other faciities throughout the Phoenix metro area, OTR trucks that do not use intermodal but are originating/terminating within the logistics project, last mile and delivery trucks, etc. Traffic to the overall logistics park/center coming from the greater Southern California market, including from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the central LA industrial market, and the Inland Empire will mostly be OTR. Intermodal in this short of a market makes limited sense from a scheduling and cost standpoint. Even if BNSF were to get back the A&C, the impact of IM traffic from Southern CA would be nominal at best. UP's ports of LA & LB to Phoenix service is a "sweat the assets" service with limited use that has no noticeable impact on OTR trucking on I-10. 

Long term, it's unpredictable. 25 years ago planners with the ports of LA & LB and regional Southern CA governments such as SCAG, SANDAG, SANBAG, etc, were telling us how both the BNSF and UP would be running several hundred trains per day heading to/from the east. Looking at total box count on both roads' IM trains show that traffic never has come close to those estimates. PSR, service issues, and capex limitations were major parts of that. 

Bruce 

Edit 1x - typo and future estimates



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/26 17:23 by StStephen.

I think I found an answer to my original question. Buried on slide 16:

https://bnsflpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/BNSF-LPP-Realtors-PPT-9.3.25-LAK.pdf

Two more trains a day in 2028, with a gradual increase to eight trains a day by 2050.

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