BNSF Railway

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This article is about the freight railroad company. For the Chicago area Metra commuter rail line, see BNSF Railway (Metra).
BNSF Railway
BNSF logo.svg
BNSF Railway system map.svg
System map (trackage rights in purple)
BNSF Eastbound Williams Junction, Arizona (15490239760).jpg
BNSF C44-9W #5498 leads a container train on the Southern Transcon near Williams, Arizona
Reporting mark BNSF
Locale Midwest and Western United States
Dates of operation 1996 (1996)–Present
Predecessor <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length 32,500 miles (52,300 km)
Headquarters Fort Worth, Texas
Website www.bnsf.com

The BNSF Railway (reporting mark BNSF) is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) (its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight), and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has 48,000 employees, 32,500 miles (52,300 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives.[1] It has three transcontinental routes that provide high-speed links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.[2] The BNSF and UP have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the U.S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.

According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo. For instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.[3]

The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation on September 22, 1995. This new holding company then purchased the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (often called the "Santa Fe") and Burlington Northern Railroad, and formally merged the railways into the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway on December 31, 1996. On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to "BNSF Railway," using the initials of its original name.[4]

In 1999, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Canadian National Railway announced their intention to merge and form a new corporation entitled North American Railways to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The United States' Surface Transportation Board (STB) placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, which ended this merger.

On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF it did not already own for $100 per share in cash and stock - a deal valued at $44 billion. The company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt.[5][6][7][8][9] On February 12, 2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition.[10]

History

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Main articles: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Burlington Northern Railroad
BNSF Dash 9-44CW #1041 leading a manifest freight train northwest of Shallowater, Texas, running on former ATSF railroad tracks that run parallel to U.S. Route 84 as they cross the high plains of the Llano Estacado. Immediately behind the locomotive are cars painted in the old Burlington Northern livery.

BNSF's history dates back to 1849, when the Aurora Branch Railroad in Illinois and the Pacific Railroad of Missouri were formed. The Aurora Branch eventually grew into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, (CB&Q), a major component of predecessor Burlington Northern. A portion of the Pacific Railroad became the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco).[citation needed]

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) was chartered in 1859. It built one of the first transcontinental railroads in North America, linking Chicago and Southern California; major branches led to Texas, Denver, and San Francisco. The Interstate Commerce Commission denied a proposed merger with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in the 1980s.[citation needed]

The Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) was created in 1970 through the consolidation of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, the Great Northern Railway, the Northern Pacific Railway and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. It absorbed the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco) in 1980. Its main lines included Chicago-Seattle with branches to Texas (ex-Burlington) and Montgomery, Alabama (ex-Frisco), and access to the low-sulfur coal of Wyoming's Powder River Basin.[citation needed]

BN-ATSF merger

On June 30, 1994, BN and ATSF announced plans to merge; they were the largest and smallest (by mileage) of the "Super Seven," the seven largest of the then-twelve U.S. Class I railroads. The long-rumored announcement was delayed by a disagreement over the disposition of Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation, a gold mining subsidiary that ATSF agreed to sell to stockholders.[11] This announcement began the next wave of mergers, as the "Super Seven" were merged down to four in the next five years. The Illinois Central Railroad and Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS), two of the five "small" Class Is, announced on July 19 that the former would buy the latter,[12] but this plan was called off on October 25. The Union Pacific Railroad (UP), another major Western system, started a bidding war with BN for control of the SF on October 5.[13] The UP gave up on January 31, 1995, paving the way for the BN-ATSF merger.[14] Subsequently, the UP acquired the Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP) in 1996, and Eastern systems CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway split Conrail in 1998.[citation needed]

On February 7, 1995, BN and ATSF heads Gerald Grinstein and Robert D. Krebs both announced shareholders had approved the plan, which would save overhead costs and combine BN's coal and ATSF's intermodal strengths. Although the two systems complemented each other with little overlap,[15] in contrast to the Santa Fe-Southern Pacific merger, which failed because it would have eliminated competition in many areas of the Southwest, BN and ATSF came to agreements with most other Class Is to keep them from opposing the merger. UP was satisfied with a single segment of trackage rights from Abilene, Kansas to Superior, Nebraska, which BN and ATSF had both served. KCS gained haulage rights to several Midwest locations, including Omaha, East St. Louis, and Memphis, in exchange for BNSF getting similar access to New Orleans. SP, initially requesting far-reaching trackage rights throughout the West,[16] soon agreed on a reduced plan, whereby SP acquired trackage rights on ATSF for intermodal and automotive traffic to Chicago, and other trackage rights on ATSF in Kansas, south to Texas, and between Colorado and Texas. In exchange, SP assigned BNSF trackage rights over the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad between El Paso and Topeka and haulage rights to the Mexican border at Eagle Pass, Texas.[17] Regional Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway also obtained trackage rights over BN from Peoria to Galesburg, Illinois, a BN hub where it could interchange with SP[18] (which had rights on BN dating from 1990[19]). The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approved the BNSF merger on July 20, 1995 (with final approval on August 23), less than a month before UP announced on August 3 that it would acquire SP.[20] Parents Burlington Northern Inc. and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation were acquired on September 22, 1995 by the new Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation. The merger of the operating companies was held up by issues with unions;[21] ATSF merged on December 31, 1996 into BN, which was renamed the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company.[22] Thus the present BNSF Railway Company (name adopted January 24, 2005) dates back to the January 13, 1961 incorporation in Delaware[23] of BN as "Great Northern Pacific & Burlington Lines, Inc."[24]

Effect of UP-SP merger

The Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger further enlarged the combined BNSF network. Unlike BN and ATSF, UP and SP had significant overlap, where competition between the two would become a monopoly. UP and BNSF announced in late September 1995 that, in exchange for BNSF not opposing the merger, it would obtain ownership of 335 miles (539 km) of line and about 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of trackage rights to reach these "two-to-one" shippers. Significant additions included rights over SP's Central Corridor from Denver via the Moffat Tunnel and Salt Lake City, and over Donner Pass, to the San Francisco Bay Area, with an alternate route through the Feather River Canyon along UP. The ATSF trackage in California's Central Valley was linked to BN's line into Oregon, through trackage rights over UP between Stockton and Keddie and acquisition of UP's section of the "Inside Gateway" to the beginning of BN trackage at Bieber. In Texas, BNSF received rights in several directions from the Houston area: west over UP to San Antonio, with a branch to Waco, and continuing over SP to Eagle Pass (replacing the haulage rights they had just obtained); south over UP to Brownsville; east over SP to New Orleans (including the purchase of this line east of Lake Charles); and northeast over SP to Memphis with a branch on UP to Little Rock. Ownership of a short connection between Waxahachie and Dallas also went from UP to BNSF. UP, in return, got a few short sections of trackage rights over BNSF, mainly connecting the SP at Chemult to the UP at Bend, Oregon, and connecting the SP at Mojave, California with existing UP rights on ATSF at Barstow, California.[25][26] On April 18, 1996, UP, BNSF, and the Chemical Manufacturers Association entered into an agreement giving BNSF rights over the UP line between Houston and East St. Louis, paralleling the Houston-Memphis SP line, and allowing BNSF to participate in the UP's plan for directional running, in which each line would serve through trains in only one direction.[27][28] The Surface Transportation Board, successor to the ICC, approved the UP-SP merger on July 3,[29] and UP control of SP took effect on September 11, 1996.[30] BNSF trackage rights operations began on the Central Corridor on October 10, and soon thereafter on other lines.[31]

BNSF continued projects started by its predecessors, most notably BN's work on reopening Stampede Pass. BN had closed Stampede Pass, the Northern Pacific Railway's main line across Washington, in 1984, in favor of the ex-Great Northern Railway's Stevens Pass. BN never abandoned the line and began rehabilitating it in early 1996, and the route reopened in early December, relieving the crowded Stevens Pass.[32] The ex-ATSF main line, now known as the Southern Transcon, has also seen steady work to add tracks, giving BNSF more capacity on this major intermodal route.[33]

Attempted merger with CN

On December 20, 1999, BNSF and the recently privatized Canadian National Railway announced plans (STB Finance Docket No. 33842) to combine as subsidiaries of a new holding company, North American Railways, which would control about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of railroad. With CN's lines located primarily in Canada and, through subsidiary Illinois Central Railroad, on a north-south corridor near BNSF's eastern edge, the two systems had little overlap. The combination would have benefited both companies by expanding available cash for capacity improvements, and allowing for longer single-system movements. Shippers and the Surface Transportation Board expressed concern and surprise about the timing, since the merger that produced BNSF had been the only one in the 1990s that did not cause severe deterioration in service.[34] The STB imposed on March 17, 2000 a 15-month moratorium (STB Ex Parte No. 582) on mergers involving any two Class I railroads, citing widespread opposition not only to the merger but its effects, likely starting the final round of mergers into two big systems. BNSF and CN immediately turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals,[35] which on July 14 ruled that the STB's right to regulate mergers allowed a moratorium, and the two railroads called off the merger.[36] The STB released its final rules (STB Ex Parte No. 582 (Sub-No. 1)) on June 11, 2001, requiring any new application to merge two Class I railroads, with the exception of smaller Kansas City Southern Railway, to demonstrate that competition would be preserved and address effects of defensive moves by other carriers.[37] Since then, no Class I mergers have taken place.

On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway would buy BNSF for $44 billion. The acquisition was approved by the boards of both companies and was approved by BNSF shareholders on February 12, 2010.[38]

Operations

Markets and services

The BNSF 'heritage' logo found on an EMD SD70MAC. The colors of the logo represented the railroads that are part of BNSF

With BNSF's large system, it hauls many different commodities, most notably coal and grain, as well as intermodal freight.

Predecessor Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) entered Wyoming's low-sulfur coal-rich Powder River Basin in the 1970s through construction of the Powder River Basin Joint Line with Union Pacific Railroad predecessor Chicago and North Western Transportation Company. Coal goes north in unit trains on the three-to-four-track Joint Line to Gillette or south to Orin, where older BN lines and other railroads take it in all directions to coal-burning power plants.[39]

BNSF serves over 1,500 grain elevators, located mostly in the Midwest on former BN lines.[40] Depending on where the markets are, this grain may move in any direction in unit trains, or wait in silos for demand to rise. Most commonly, grain may move west on the Northern Transcon to the Pacific Northwest and its export terminals, or south to Texas and Gulf of Mexico ports.[39]

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's main contribution to BNSF was the Southern Transcon, a fast intermodal corridor connecting Southern California and Chicago. Most traffic is either trailers of trucking companies such as intermodal partner J. B. Hunt, or containers from the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. The latter begins its trip on the triple-track Alameda Corridor, shared with the Union Pacific Railroad, and then follows BNSF rails from downtown Los Angeles.[39] Its route, the Southern Transcon, has been almost completely double-tracked, and triple-tracking has begun in areas such as Cajon Pass.

BNSF transports Boeing 737 fuselages from the Wichita, Kansas plant to Renton, Washington.[41]

Finances

BNSF Railway Company
Founded December 31, 1996 in Delaware[23] as Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway
Key people
 Carl Ice (chairman, president, and CEO)
Revenue IncreaseUS$21.552 billion (2013)[42]
IncreaseUS$6.668 billion (2013)[42]
IncreaseUS$4.271 billion (2013)[42]
Total assets IncreaseUS$73.461 billion (2013)[42]
Total equity IncreaseUS$48.414 billion (2013)[42]
Number of employees
 43,000 (Dec 2013)[42]
Parent Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation

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Trackage

BNSF ES44DC 7402 leads a train of Boeing 737 fuselages at Greenwood, Nebraska in October 2014.
An eastbound BNSF Railway train passes some maintenance of way equipment in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, August 8, 2004. The lead unit is painted in the Heritage II scheme.

The BNSF Railway directly owns and operates track in 28 U.S. states: Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The railway also operates a small amount of track in Canada, including an approximate 30-mile (48 kilometer) section that runs from the U.S.-Canada border to Vancouver, British Columbia, some tracks and a yard in Winnipeg, Manitoba, approximately 70 miles of joint track with the Canadian National Railway, which runs south to the U.S. border at Emerson, Manitoba, and less than a kilometre of trackage at the border in Northgate, Saskatchewan.

For administrative purposes, BNSF is divided into fourteen operating divisions: California, Chicago, Colorado, Gulf, Kansas, Los Angeles, Montana, Nebraska, Northwest, Powder River, Southwest, Springfield, Texas, and Twin Cities. Each division is further divided into hundreds of subdivisions, which represent segments of track ranging from 300-mile mainlines to 10-mile branch-lines.

Not including second, third and fourth main-line trackage, yard trackage, and siding trackage, BNSF directly owns and operates over 24,000 miles (38,624 kilometers) of track. When these additional tracks are counted, the length of track which the railway directly controls rises to more than 50,000 miles (80,467 kilometers).

Additionally, BNSF Railway has gained trackage rights on more than 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) of track throughout the United States and Canada. These rights allow the BNSF to operate its own trains with its own crews on competing railroads' main tracks. BNSF locomotives also occasionally show up on competitors' tracks throughout the United States and Canada by way of leases, mileage equalizations, and other contractual arrangements.

Yards and facilities

BNSF 880362, a tank car passing Glen Haven, Wisconsin, shows the new corporate logo on June 3, 2006.

BNSF operates various facilities all over the United States, including a yard in Winnipeg, to support its transportation system. Facilities operated by the railway include yards and terminals throughout its rail network, system locomotive shops to perform locomotive service and maintenance, a centralized operations center for train dispatching and network operations monitoring in Fort Worth, and regional dispatching centers.

BNSF Railway also operates numerous transfer facilities throughout the western United States to facilitate the transfer of intermodal containers, trailers, and other freight traffic. BNSF Railway has direct control over a total of 33 intermodal hubs and 23 automotive distribution facilities. On February 9, 2005, BNSF announced that it plans to build a new intermodal transfer facility near the port of Los Angeles called the Southern California International Gateway. The new facility, with direct rail access to the recently constructed Alameda Corridor, would supplement the container transloading abilities of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) built by Southern Pacific in the 1990s.

The BNSF mechanical division operates eight locomotive maintenance facilities that perform preventive maintenance, repairs and servicing of equipment. The largest of these facilities are located in Alliance, Nebraska and Topeka, Kansas. The mechanical division also controls 46 additional facilities responsible for car maintenance and daily running repairs.

The BNSF system mechanical division, a subset of the mechanical division, operates two maintenance-of-way work equipment shops, responsible for performing repairs and preventive maintenance to BNSF's track and equipment, in Brainerd, Minnesota and Galesburg, Illinois. The system mechanical division also operates the Western Fruit Express Company's refrigerated car repair shop in Spokane, Washington.

In 2006, BNSF teamed with Vancouver, WA-based Tri Star to run BNSF's new transload facility in Fontana, CA, near the California Speedway.

Pasco Yard

Large freight car hump yards are located throughout the BNSF system.[43]

Location of major intermodal yards:

A second-generation Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) yard-switching engine at Hobson Yard in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Routes

  • The Northern Transcon runs from Seattle to Chicago. The route is a combination of parts of the old Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway.
  • The Southern Transcon runs from Los Angeles to Chicago. The 2006 BNSF Annual Report states: "We also added about 33 miles of second main track on our main line between Chicago and Los Angeles. All but 51 miles of this high-volume 2,200-mile route were double track, as of the end of 2006. Last year, we ran 100 trains per day on this expanded main line, compared with 60 per day in 2000." Technically, it is not double tracked in mid-Kansas where two routes are used: Mulvane to Wichita to Newton to Emporia for primarily eastbound traffic; Emporia to El Dorado to Augusta to Mulvane for primarily westbound traffic. In 2008, BNSF completed nearly sixteen miles of a third main track through Cajon Pass in Southern California, increasing capacity on the transcontinental main route between Chicago and Los Angeles from 100 to 150 trains per day. BNSF started adding a second main track in Abo Canyon (east of Belen, New Mexico) the largest bottleneck on the Transcon with grading in 2008-2009, bridges in 2010 and signal work in late 2010 or early 2011. Approximately 1.7 million cubic yards of rock need to be excavated, mostly by blasting. The 2008 BNSF Annual Report states: "Following completion of the Abo Canyon project scheduled in 2011, our 2,200‑mile Transcontinental Corridor between Southern California and Chicago will have only about 30 miles of single track."
  • The Powder River Basin supplies forty percent of the coal in the United States. The 2008 BNSF Annual Report states that the quadruple track project was completed.

Operating divisions

The BNSF system is divided into 13 divisions grouped into three regions. Each division includes numerous subdivisions, normally comprising a single main line and branches.[46][47] A fourteenth division, Colorado, has been consolidated with the Powder River Division, except for the Casper and Cody Subdivisions, which were transferred to the Montana Division.

Region Division States and provinces Headquarters Subdivisions[48] Notes
South California California, Nevada, Utah San Bernardino, CA Bakersfield, Cajon, Lucerne Valley, Mojave, Needles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Stockton
South Chicago Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin Chicago, IL Aurora, Barstow, Brookfield, Chicago, Chillicothe, Marceline, Mendota, Ottumwa, Peoria, St. Croix, Thomas Hill
Central Gulf Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas Spring, TX Bay City, Conroe, Galveston, Houston, Lafayette, Lampasas, Longview, Mykawa, Silsbee
South Kansas Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas Kansas City, KS Arkansas City, Douglass, Emporia, Hereford, La Junta, Panhandle, Plainview, Slaton, Strong City, Topeka
South Los Angeles California Los Angeles, CA Alameda Corridor, Harbor, San Bernardino
North Montana Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming Billings, MT Big Sandy, Broadview, Casper, Choteau, Circle, Cody, Colstrip, Crosby, Dickinson, Fairfield, Forsyth, Ft. Benton, Glasgow, Great Falls, Grenora, Helena, Hettinger, Hi Line, Kootenai River, Laurel, Lewistown, Milk River, Mobridge,[49] Niobe, Sarpy Line, Sweet Grass, Valier
Central Nebraska Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska Lincoln, NE Bayard, Beatrice, Bellwood, Council Bluffs, Creston, Des Moines, Giltner, Hastings, Lester, Napier, Neb City, Omaha, Ottumwa, Ravenna, Sioux City, St. Joseph, Wymore
North Northwest British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington Seattle, WA Bellingham, Burbank, Cherry Point, Coeur d'Alene, Columbia River, Fallbridge, Gateway, Kettle Falls, Lakeside, Newport, New Westminster, Oregon Trunk, Scenic, Seattle, Spokane, Stampede, Sumas, Yakima Valley
Central Powder River Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wyoming Gillette, WY Akron, Angora, Big Horn, Black Hills, Boise City, Brush, Butte, Campbell, Canyon, Dalhart, Dutch, Front Range, Golden, Orin, Pikes Peak, Pueblo, Reno, Sand Hills, Spanish Peaks, Twin Peaks, Valley
South Southwest Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas Belen, NM Clovis, Coronado, Defiance, El Paso, Ennis, Gallup, Glorieta, Lee Ranch, Phoenix, Raton, Seligman, Springerville
Central Springfield Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee Springfield, MO Afton, Amory, Avard, Beardstown, Pensacola, Birmingham, Cherokee, Cuba, Fort Scott, Hannibal, Lead Line, River, Thayer North, Thayer South, Yates City Includes most of the former St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
Central Texas Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas Fort Worth, TX BBRX, Chickasha, Creek, DFW, Ft. Worth, Madill, Red River Valley, Red Rock, Sooner, Venus, Wichita Falls
North Twin Cities Iowa, Manitoba, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin Minneapolis, MN Aberdeen, Allouez, Appleton, Brainerd, Browns Valley, Canton, Casco, Clifford Line, Corson, Devils Lake, Drayton, Glasston, Grand Forks, Hanley Falls, Hannah, Hib Tac, Hillsboro, Hinckley, Hunter, Jamestown, KO, Lakes, Madison, Marshall, Mayville, Midway, Mitchell, Monticello, Moorhead, Morris, Noyes, P Line, Prosper, Rolla, Staples, St. Paul, Warwick, Watertown, Wayzata, Westhope, Zap Line

Passenger train service

The BNSF Railway hosts commuter trains: BNSF Railway Line for Metra (Chicago), Coaster (San Diego), Metrolink (Southern California), Northstar Commuter Rail, and Sounder (Puget Sound).

The line used by New Mexico Rail Runner Express was sold to the state of New Mexico, but BNSF retained all freight rights on the line and operates freight trains as needed.

Metra's cars that were originally purchased by BNSF predecessor Chicago Burlington & Quincy have letterboards above the doors. In about 2011, about 15 of the remaining cars had the original "BURLINGTON" lettering restored, while the rest now read "BNSF RAILWAY". Other Metra cars assigned to BNSF have the current BNSF "swoosh" logo next to the door.

Many Amtrak routes use BNSF rails: the Amtrak Cascades, California Zephyr, Carl Sandburg, Coast Starlight, Empire Builder, Heartland Flyer, Illinois Zephyr, Lincoln Service, Pacific Surfliner, San Joaquin, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, and Texas Eagle.

Although it does not have a steam program like the Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, the BNSF has allowed for the Southern Pacific 4449, Santa Fe 3751 and Milwaukee Road 261 steam locomotives to operate excursions over their rails.

Safety

Overall, BNSF is a safely operated railway as evidenced by receiving the E.H. Harriman Award for safety multiple times. But a number of accidents and incidents have occurred on the railway since its inception.

As one of the leading supporters of the Operation Lifesaver program to promote safety at railway crossings and rights-of-way, the BNSF Railway, in 2000, established a grade-crossing closure program. This program, in which BNSF works with communities and landowners to identify unnecessary or redundant crossings, has helped close more than 2,900 of BNSF's railway crossings throughout the United States. Due to the program, BNSF has been the industry leader in lowering the number of grade-crossing collisions.

On June 7, 2006, BNSF became the second Class I railroad, second to Norfolk Southern Railway, to recruit railfans to help ensure the company's rail network remains safe. Called the Citizens for Rail Security, BNSF designed a program that encourages railfans to register on an official company website. They can print out a small identification card, containing a list of general safety guidelines for a railfan to follow, as well as a toll-free telephone number to alert a BNSF representative of suspicious activities or potential security breaches. As of April 2010, CRS had more than 9,200 members.

BNSF has had a similar program for employees since 2003. The BNSF On Guard program has been highly successful, with more than 200 employees reporting suspicious activities since its inception.[50]

BNSF also contracts with News Link, a small business in Lincoln, Nebraska, to publish employee newsletters focused on safety for each of the railroad's 14 operating divisions and nearly all of its system shops. These newsletters vary in length from four to 28 pages, published ranging from monthly to quarterly.

In 2014, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered BNSF to pay over $526,000 to workers who had been terminated in 2010 and 2011 after revealing workplace injuries at the terminal in Havre, Montana, which is in contravention of provisions of the Federal Railroad Safety Act protecting whistleblowers.[51]

Equipment

According to the 2007 BNSF Annual Report, at the end of 2007 the railway had more than 40,000 employees; 6,400 locomotives; and 85,338 freight cars.

At the end of 2007, the average age (from date of manufacture) was 15 years for the BNSF's locomotive fleet and 14 years for the freight car fleet.

On January 24, 2006, BNSF announced a $2.4 billion program of infrastructure upgrades for 2006. The upgrade program includes: double- and triple-tracking 40 miles (64 km) of track and a second mainline track through New Mexico's Abo Canyon on the former ATSF transcontinental line; expanding the Lincoln, Nebraska, classification yard and double- and triple-tracking 50 miles (80 km) of track in Wyoming's Powder River Basin region; expansions at eight of the railroad's larger intermodal facilities, and extending many sidings and expanding and improving refueling facilities. In making the announcement, BNSF chairman Matthew K. Rose cited improvements in the company's return on invested capital, and expressed hope for continued improvement.[52] In March, 2008, the railroad was completing the triple-tracking of Cajon Pass in California, creating four tracks through the pass—three BNSF (former Santa Fe and newly installed) and one Union Pacific (former Southern Pacific).

Paint schemes

The assortment of colors used on the BNSF Railway makes it one of the most colorful Class I railroads in North America. Most of BNSF's high-horsepower road locomotives are painted in "Heritage" schemes - primarily based on BN predecessor Great Northern Railway's colors of Omaha Orange and Pullman Green, with yellow striping and silver underframes. Since 2005, BNSF's locomotives feature black instead of dark green paint, reminiscent of the original 1970 Burlington Northern scheme.

Most of BNSF's BN-ordered SD70MAC's still bear the Executive colors of Grinstein green and cream. Several ex-ATSF C44-9W's still retain their red-and-silver "Warbonnet" colors, and a large portion of EMD and GE yard power are still in their original green Burlington Northern or blue-and-yellow Santa Fe schemes.

  • Common locomotive paint schemes

  • ATSF "Warbonnet" lettered for BNSF

  • BN Executive scheme lettered for BNSF

  • "Heritage I"

  • BNSF C44-9W 5518.jpg

    "Heritage II"

  • "Heritage III" or "Nike Swoosh"

The first locomotive to bear BNSF lettering was BN SD70MAC No. 9647, introduced in late August 1995, just as the Interstate Commerce Commission was approving the merger. VMV Enterprises in Paducah, Kentucky painted it in a one-of-a-kind "commemorative" scheme, combining Santa Fe's "Warbonnet" with BN's "Executive" colors of dark "Grinstein green" and cream (instead of SF's red and silver). "BNSF" replaced "SANTA FE" on the front of the unit, and "Burlington Northern Santa Fe" was painted on the side.[53] Dubbed as "Premium Heritage," the paint scheme was widely rejected by the public, and was often called the "Vomit Bonnet" and the "Barfbonnet." In the spring of 2013, this unit was sent to Relco in Albia, Iowa, repainted into the current BNSF Heritage III scheme.

BN however, did not stop using its "Executive" colors on its current order of EMD SD70MACs. Experimenting with distributed power equipment in 1995, four units (9713–9716) were built between June and July 1995; making these units numbered ahead of the current production order (9617-9645). On December 28, 1995, SD70MAC 9708 emerged from the EMD London, Ontario facility as the last unit for Burlington Northern in 1995. However, units 9709 and 9710 were completed shortly thereafter and did not appear somewhere between January 1 and January 8. Originally believed that units 9711 and 9712 would emerge as BN 9711 and 9712 to fill in the gap between 9710 and 9713, these units were the very first locomotives to carry a short-lived "BNSF" in Santa Fe billboard style lettering along the carbodies, yet retaining the executive scheme without any major modifications. At that point, 9710 was now deemed as the very last new locomotive delivered to Burlington Northern.

BNSF logo adopted in 1996

By January 1996, BNSF had begun painting locomotives in the old BN and ATSF schemes by adding "BNSF" on the sides.[54] Then, in late May, the company introduced a new design on BN SD60M 9297 (then 8197 and now 1474), painted mainly in BN predecessor Great Northern Railway's pre-1967 colors of orange and dark "Pullman green," but also incorporating red and silver, and said to represent all major BN predecessors and Santa Fe. On the front was a new logo, placing "Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway" in the Santa Fe cross. Some of the striping details were different on each side,[55] and employees voted for the simpler right-side design, which, with some minor changes, became the new scheme,[56] replacing the older BN scheme. However, president and CEO Robert Krebs said the railroad was big enough for two designs, and Santa Fe's "Warbonnet" (with "BNSF" instead of "Santa Fe" on the front[57]) remained alongside the new "Heritage I" scheme.[58] A third "Heritage II" scheme appeared by September 1998, with "Warbonnet"-style yellow trim and ATSF-inspired "cigar-band" logo replacing the circle-and-cross logo on the nose.[59][60]

On January 24, 2005, as part of its tenth anniversary celebration, the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway was renamed BNSF Railway, which adopted a new logo.[61] By March, the logo had been applied to the sides and fronts of six ES44DCs, which were otherwise painted in the "Heritage II" scheme, except with black replacing dark green. Slight differences were present on the six locomotives,[62] and on April 11 BNSF officially chose the design it had applied to No. 7701.[63] The "New Image" scheme is also referred to as "Heritage III", the "Nike Swoosh" scheme or simply the "Swoosh" scheme. Some railfans also refer to the logo as "The Wedge" scheme.[64]

Since 2006, BNSF's locomotives designated for yard work or local trains have been painted in the "Heritage IV" scheme. Somewhat of a simplified form of the "Heritage III" scheme, "Heritage IV" is virtually identical to the original "Heritage I" scheme, albeit with black instead of dark green, and the current "Nike Swoosh" BNSF logo. Locomotives such as SD40-2's, GP38's, GP60M's and SD60M's have been painted in this scheme. No GE's have received this scheme yet.

A BNSF train crosses Lake Ashtabula on the Sheyenne River west of Luverne, North Dakota. The 2,736 ft (834 m) Sheyenne River Bridge was erected in 1912 by the Great Northern Railway.[65] The North Country Trail, a 4,600 mi (7,400 km) recreational trail, passes beneath the bridge.[66]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ BNSF - Fact Sheet
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Press Release (November 3, 2009), Press Release of BNSF - Berkshire Hathaway Transaction.[dead link]
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
  11. ↑ Railroad News, Trains, September 1994, pp. 14-16
  12. ↑ Michael W. Blaszak, Illinois Central, KCS seek a potent union, Trains, October 1994, pp. 14-16
  13. ↑ Don Phillips, UP vies for Santa Fe; IC+KCS called off, Trains, January 1995, pp. 20-24
  14. ↑ Arrivals & Departures, Trains, April 1995, p. 18
  15. ↑ Kevin P. Keefe, Will Rob Krebs win the West?, Trains, May 1995, pp. 14-15
  16. ↑ Scanner, Trains, June 1995, p. 21
  17. ↑ J. David Ingles, BN-Santa Fe widens its lanes, Trains, July 1995, pp. 22-23
  18. ↑ News Photos, Trains, July 1996, p. 30
  19. ↑ Interstate Commerce Commission, Finance Docket No. 31730 (Sub-No. 1), August 25, 1995
  20. ↑ Arrivals & Departures, Trains, October 1995, p. 18
  21. ↑ Scanner, Trains, June 1996, p. 23
  22. ↑ Securities and Exchange Commission, Form 10-K: Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation for the year ended December 31, 2007
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Surface Transportation Board, Annual Report Financial Data, accessed May 2009
  24. ↑ Moody's Transportation Manual, 1992, p. 12
  25. ↑ Kevin P. Keefe, Carving up the West, Trains, December 1995, pp. 16-18
  26. ↑ Surface Transportation Board, Finance Docket No. 32760, August 6, 1996
  27. ↑ Bill Stephens, Is Conrail a UP spoiler?, Trains, July 1996, pp. 19-22
  28. ↑ Surface Transportation Board, Finance Docket No. 32760 (Sub-No. 19), September 9, 1996
  29. ↑ Arrivals & Departures, Trains, September 1996, p. 20
  30. ↑ Arrivals & Departures, Trains, December 1996, p. 22
  31. ↑ J. David Ingles, BNSF begins service on UP merger routes, Trains, January 1997, pp. 20-21
  32. ↑ Bruce Kelly, The thunder returns to Stampede Pass, Trains, November 1997, pp. 40-51
  33. ↑ David Lustig, Merger or no, Santa Fe has work to do, Trains, February 1995, pp. 20-22
  34. ↑ Michael W. Blaszak, CN, BNSF seek to combine; timing curious, Trains, March 2000, pp. 16-18
  35. ↑ Michael W. Blaszak, STB slams on the brakes on mergers, Trains, June 2000, pp. 16-17
  36. ↑ Michael W. Blaszak, Stymied: BNSF, CN won't fight on, Trains, October 2000, pp. 18-19
  37. ↑ Michael W. Blaszak, Lawyers, start your engines!, Trains, September 2001, pp. 16-17
  38. ↑ Ellis, David. "Buffett's firm to buy Burlington Northern,” http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/03/news/companies/buffett_burlington_northern/index.htm?postversion=2009110311, November 3, 2009
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 39.2 Fred W. Frailey, The Empire of BNSF, , June 2001, pp. 30-41
  40. ↑ BNSF Agricultural Facilities: On-line Grain Elevator Directory, accessed May 2009
  41. ↑ Steve Wilhelm, BNSF adding rail cars to meet Boeing 737 transport demand, Puget Sound Business Journal, Updated: Feb 11, 2013
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 42.2 42.3 42.4 42.5 BNSF Railway Company 2013 10-K
  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  44. ↑ BNSF Railway opens Logistics Park Kansas City; The Kansas City Star; October 17, 2013.
  45. ↑ BNSF Dedicates Opening of its New Logistics Park Kansas City Intermodal Facility; BNSF; October 17, 2013.
  46. ↑ About BNSF - Division Maps, January 1, 2005, accessed May 2009
  47. ↑ BNSF Railway Company System Map, January 1, 2005, accessed May 2009
  48. ↑ BNSF employee timetables, 2006-2008
  49. ↑ BNSF Railway Twin Cities Division, Northern Light (employee newsletter), March 2009: "The Mobridge Subdivision from Aberdeen to Hettinger ceded from Twin Cities Division to the Montana Division Jan. 20 to break down territory in the region, allowing for better coverage."
  50. ↑ BNSF Railway (June 7, 2006), BNSF Railway Asks Rail Fans for Cooperation to Keep America's Rail System Safe. Retrieved June 29, 2006.
  51. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  52. ↑ BNSF Railway (January 24, 2006), BNSF Announces $2.4 Billion Capital Commitment Program for 2006; About $400 Million Again Slated for Track/Facilities Expansion. Retrieved January 30, 2006.
  53. ↑ Kevin P. Keefe and Steve Glischinski, Meanwhile, back in Fort Worth..., Trains, November 1995, pp. 18-18A
  54. ↑ Burlington Northern Santa Fe: A gradual change of image, Trains, April 1996, p. 17
  55. ↑ Steve Glischinski, It's 'all in the family' with the latest BNSF locomotive paint scheme, Trains, August 1996, pp. 16-17
  56. ↑ News Photos, Trains, October 1996, p. 28
  57. ↑ Railroad News, Trains, October 1997, pp. 30-31
  58. ↑ Michael W. Blaszak, BNSF strives for an effective blend, Trains, April 1997, p. 43
  59. ↑ BNSF dips into the paint bucket again, Trains, November 1997, p. 20
  60. ↑ Power Desk, Trains, February 1998, p. 20
  61. ↑ BNSF Adopts New Corporate and Subsidiary Logos and Changes Name of Railway Subsidiary as Part of Tenth Anniversary Celebration, January 24, 2005
  62. ↑ Front-runner for new BNSF image, Trains, June 2005, p. 20
  63. ↑ BNSF selects new livery; is it "Heritage III"?, Trains, July 2005, p. 25
  64. ↑ Another BNSF "one of a kind?", Trains, August 2005, p. 25
  65. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  66. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

References

External links

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