FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway has completed its multiyear project to add track and fueling capacity on the approach to its yard in Belen, N.M., where trains stop to change crews, undergo inspection, and have their locomotives’ fuel tanks topped off.
“Belen, New Mexico, is really the heartbeat of our Southern Transcon, accounting for about a quarter of BNSF’s entire fuel usage and 25% of our volume,” Jon Gabriel, vice president of service design, said in a statement.
The new facility, located timetable east of Belen in Becker, N.M., includes two new 20,000-foot processing tracks for fueling, inspections, and crew changes, the railway said today. The additions, located 10 miles from Belen, will enable trains to move through the terminal more quickly, ultimately improving capacity by 30%, BNSF says.
Belen handles about 80 trains per day and its fueling facilities pump an average of 750,000 gallons per day – and more than a million gallons on busy days, BNSF says.
It is an impressive facility in a very remote, impoverished area. The triple track in for miles is a sight.