(The Associated Press circulated the following article on March 10.)
MINOT, N.D. — The Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad plans to build a train fuel station and rail car repair shop here, a spokesman said.
If the station is built, it will improve rail service in the region by allowing trains to be refueled more quickly, said Gus Melonas, a BNSF spokesman in Seattle.
Design work and efforts to get permits will begin later this year, Melonas said Thursday. A railroad statement said construction will depend on BNSF’s future profitability. The facilities “could be completed in 2008 if business trends continue,” the statement says.
Gov. John Hoeven said the project would represent an investment of more than $20 million and could bring up to 50 new jobs. Hoeven and an assortment of railroad and local officials announced the project Thursday in Minot.
Forty-five BNSF trains run through Minot daily, and the railroad’s closest fueling stations are in Havre, Mont., and Dilworth, Minn. A locomotive holds up to 4,600 gallons of fuel, Melonas said.
In some crowded rail yards in Seattle, Vancouver or Pasco, Wash., refueling can take up to 10 hours, but the Minot station should be able to refuel a train in about 45 minutes, Melonas said. BNSF opened a similar facility in northern Idaho in August 2004.
“It’s like a quick-stop station where these trains can pull in, get fueled up and get back on the road again,” he said.
Hoeven said the state wants a comprehensive rail freight system for farm products.