BNSF Railway’s new service at Barbours Cut Container Terminal expands capacity to meet growing demand. Port Houston averages around 12,000 trucks per day at our container terminals. With this added on-dock terminal rail service, Port Houston can help customers get their containers more efficiently. BNSF’s service will operate Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays heading to the greater Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver markets.

Union Pacific has also expanded their services to deliver containers to five growing inland markets. This service will allow containers to be loaded onto railcars from cargo ships docked at Barbours Cut Container Terminal and transported directly to Denver, Salt Lake City, Oakland, Los Angeles, El Paso, and Dallas/Fort Worth. This addition will help containers head to their destination more efficiently and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Port Houston is the largest Gulf Coast container port, handling 73% of U.S. Gulf Coast container traffic and is an essential economic engine for the Houston region, the state of Texas and the U.S.

“These added rail services are an exciting step forward in the movement of cargo at Port Houston. Port Houston is a top five container port and growing fast, and intermodal solutions like this help ensure continued efficient movement of goods to locations throughout the U.S.,” said Roger Guenther, Executive Director at Port Houston .

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As the nation’s largest tonnage and one of the busiest ports, there has always been a need to make improvements and keep logistics efficient. Being open for business more than 100 years also comes with trouble spots along the way. However, Port Houston is focused on making infrastructure improvements before any serious problems come under fire. In particular, the area of freight mobility has grown tremendously over the years and this is largely due to the Port Houston teams that make these projects possible.

Meaning of Freight Mobility

What is Freight Mobility you ask? In short, freight mobility is a broad term that refers to cargo vehicles – trains, trucks or airplanes – traveling to different destinations around the world transporting various goods. Most organizations in the logistics or supply chain sector rely on the Port’s freight mobility group to monitor how efficiently cargo is moving and see where infrastructure improvements need to be made. Port Houston relies heavily on the freight mobility department to advocate for and facilitate the investment in the freight network around the Houston region.

Freight Mobility Projects at Port Houston

Everyone knows that large projects require a lot of teamwork, collaboration as well as time management and freight mobility is no exception. For the port, there are multiple cross-functioning departments — including Construction, Operations, Legal, Grants, Real Estate, and more — that contribute to make key enhancements around our terminals and drive growth. No projects can happen without our cross-functional teams at the port and the partnerships we build with outside entities. Some of closest partnerships have been with Harris County, the regions railroads, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and local Houston associations. Keeping these relationships open has allowed the port to get many freight mobility projects completed and in turn help the local communities.

In 2019, the port received a 50-50 grant shared with the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) and the Port Terminal Railroad Association (PTRA) to help complete the port’s Broadway Double Track project. This project added a second railroad track near Turning Basin Terminal and Broadway street (inside Loop610), substantially completing double tracking of the PTRA which will improve cargo rail mobility to/from the port. This $23 million investment not only increased efficiency of freight movement but reduced emissions and improved safety.

In 2020 freight mobility improvements have continued across various areas of Port Houston. TxDOT has been a big contributor to the Port Road Expansion project and Barbours Cut Blvd/SH-146 Intersection project. More details about these specific projects can be found here: /road-widening-projects.

Additional developments are being made around Port Houston’s Jacintoport terminal, including the Peninsula Road Improvement project and Sheldon Road Expansion project. The Peninsula Road Improvement project has been mostly completed, with enhancements being made to roads and rail crossings improving overall cargo mobility, safety and air quality. Peninsula Road itself will by widened from 2 to 4 lanes allowing trucks to easily get in/out of Jacintoport. This was one of the most congested and dangerous areas within the port region and the $12+ million project, with80% funded by Rider 48 funds from the Texas Legislature, has made it one of the safest and most efficient regions of the port.

The Sheldon Road Expansion project also is vital to improved efficiency around Jacintoport terminal. The first phase of this project includes widening the road from 2 to 4 lanes for easier truck accessibility. The port was awarded $1.2 million with a 50-50 cost share with Rider 38 funds from TX Legislature and Harris County. Additional phases will include more improvements to Sheldon Road with around $18 million in further enhancements.

As Port Houston continues to grow, freight mobility will persist as a vitally important piece for enhancing efficiency with port roadways and railways. Port Houston teams are tireless working to keep up with the growth and maintain outstanding relationships with our stakeholders and communities.

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Caption: Union Pacific Railcar (Photo credit: PTRA)

The Broadway Double Track Project near Manchester Street at the Port of Houston is now complete. The project was administered by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

Three Class I railroads – Union Pacific, BNSF Railway and Kansas City Southern Railroad — worked in collaboration with the port and provided half of the project funding. The Houston-Galveston Area Council provided the remaining federal funding. The Port Terminal Railroad Association (PTRA), Union Pacific and BNSF Railway all have rights to operate over tracks on port property.

The estimated $23 million project will generate $63 million in benefits and completes double tracking on the PTRA railroad on the south side of the ship channel. The project will remove train delays of two to four hours a day and alleviate one of the largest rail bottleneck points on the PTRA railroad.

The rail system includes a rail bridge over Broadway Street that provides rail switching services to shippers along the Houston Ship Channel. The construction improvements were made without impact to train operations. In coordination with Harris County, TxDOT and Port Houston, PTRA also is making improvements to rail crossings on Peninsula Road and Jacintoport Boulevard as part of the Peninsula Road Improvement Project.

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Public officials, Port Houston and members of the Port Terminal Railroad Association joined together at a groundbreaking ceremony for the Broadway Double Track project near Manchester Street in the Port of Houston Oct. 1.

Three Class I railroads – Union Pacific, BNSF Railway and Kansas City Southern Railroad – worked in collaboration with the port and provided half of the project funding. Houston-Galveston Area Council provided the remaining federal funding.

Port Houston owns the track, which is operated by PTRA. The project is estimated to generate up to $63 million in benefits over several years.

“This project is a model of successful private and public partnership,” Executive Director Roger Guenther said during the event.

The rail system operated by PTRA includes a rail bridge that overpasses Broadway Street in Houston, which provides rail switching services to shippers.

“This project is good for the greater Port of Houston; the additional capacity provided by this main second rail track will further enable the flow of commerce in our region,” added Guenther.

Having two main tracks on this segment of the railway will reduce delays to trains awaiting clearance to enter into the single track, further improving the flow of cargoes to and from industrial port facilities.

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