Seminal moments of the past help position BNSF for the future
12/6/2024
By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
Late next year, BNSF Railway Co. will mark its 30th anniversary. The railroad was formed on Sept. 22, 1995, when the Burlington Northern Railroad and Santa Fe Railway merged.
BNSF is the product of 400 predecessor railroads over the past 175 years, so its history stretches back much longer than merely about three decades. But with the 30-year milestone rising on the horizon, the Class I is reflecting on its many accomplishments since the merger.
There has been a plethora of defining moments during BNSF’s first 29 years. Those that occurred in the first decade or so include:
• establishing the BNSF Mexico service in 1997;
• opening the Stockton Intermodal Facility in Southern California in 2000;
• unveiling BNSF Logistics Park Chicago in 2002;
• adding 14 miles of a third mainline in the Powder River Basin region in 2005;
• reaching 10 million units in annual volume for the first time in the Class I’s short history in 2006;
• completing a major triple-track project through Southern California’s Cajon Pass along the Southern Transcon line — which runs between L.A. and Chicago — in 2008; and
• finishing a key double-track segment on the Southern Transcon through New Mexico’s Abo Canyon in 2009.
Accomplishments that stand out after 2010 include:
• opening the Memphis Intermodal facility in 2011;
• completing a new 365-foot-long lift-span bridge in Burlington, Iowa, in 2012;
• opening BNSF Logistics Park Kansas City in 2013;
• finishing the Tower 55 project in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2014;
• launching the BNSF Certified Sites program in 2015;
• adding a fourth mainline in Amarillo, Texas — a major crew-change point — in 2018;
• extending intermodal service options between Los Angeles and Chicago in 2018; and
• launching direct intermodal service between the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley region in 2020.
In 2016, BNSF Logistics Park Chicago became the rail industry’s second intermodal facility to reach 1 million lifts in a year, joining the Class I’s Hobart intermodal terminal in L.A. BNSF Railway Co.Logistic parks have been — and will continue to be — a big part of BNSF’s growth strategy. Through its predecessors, BNSF pioneered the logistics park concept in 1994 by developing an intermodal facility near Fort Worth in Alliance, Texas, adjacent to an airport and warehouses.
The concept calls for positioning an intermodal hub as the centerpiece of a logistics park with distribution centers nearby to help streamline supply chains and lower transportation costs for customers. Logistics parks enable customers to co-locate with BNSF at a site.
The Class I also develops logistics centers to serve carload customers. The centers predominantly handle bulk agricultural and industrial products.
By 2018, BNSF had developed logistics parks in Chicago, Kansas City, Missouri, and Alliance, Texas. In 2016, BNSF Logistics Park Chicago became the rail industry’s second intermodal facility to reach 1 million lifts in a year, joining BNSF’s Hobart intermodal terminal in L.A. The Alliance intermodal facility became the third in 2021.
Earlier this year, BNSF completed 50 additional miles of double track in Kansas, making the 2,200-mile Southern Transcon nearly all double-, triple- or quadruple-tracked. About 99.98% of the route between L.A. and Chicago now is double-tracked or more. BNSF Railway Co.To date, the Class I also has opened logistics centers in Fontana, California (near L.A.); Sweetwater, Texas; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 2025, BNSF expects to open a logistics center in Cleveland, Texas.
BNSF also has announced plans to develop Logistics Park Phoenix (LPP), a logistics hub featuring an intermodal facility, logistics park and logistics center in Phoenix. The Class I also is advancing a long-range plan to develop a logistics park in Lochbuie, Colorado.
In addition, BNSF is developing the Barstow International Gateway (B.I.G.), a $1.5 billion integrated rail facility first announced in 2022. To open in the next two to three years, the 4,500-acre B.I.G. will feature a rail yard, intermodal facility and warehouses for transloading freight from international containers to domestic containers. The complex is designed to expedite container shipments from the ports in L.A. and Long Beach and enhance supply-chain efficiency across BNSF’s network.
Both the B.I.G. and logistics parks will help evolve the industry, BNSF Group Vice President of Consumer Products Jon Gabriel believes.
“By co-locating warehousing and fulfillment centers near intermodal rail facilities, B.I.G. and LPP take this to the next level by not only having physical co-location, but the ability to digitally integrate and automate by having all inside the fence of one private facility ecosystem,” he said in an email.
A map shows the current locations of the railroad’s logistics parks and logistics centers, as well as the sites of future parks and centers. BNSF Railway Co.A key component of the B.I.G. facility and logistics parks, intermodal also is a main part of BNSF’s growth strategy. So, continuing to build capacity and bolster service performance in that sector is vital, BNSF leaders say.
For example, the Class I earlier this year completed 50 additional miles of double track in Kansas, making the 2,200-mile Transcon nearly all double-, triple- or quadruple-tracked — 99.98% of the route now is double-tracked or more. Ony 4.5 miles of the Transcon isn’t at least double tracked.
“[Our] investments in network capacity and resiliency position our intermodal product to be a service that cargo owners and carriers can count on, delivering a service product competitive with trucks, but with the capacity, cost and emissions benefits of rail,” said Gabriel.
Recent investments also have benefited BNSF’s agricultural products business and service. For example, the Class I in 2022 completed the Willmar Bypass, nearly 3 miles of new track and wye track in Willmar, Minnesota.
Now, BNSF trains no longer need to enter Willmar and stop at a terminal in the middle of town to change directions to go to and from the railroad’s Morris and Marshall subdivisions. Instead, they can bypass the terminal on the new track and move through the area up to an hour faster.
Over the past several years, BNSF has marked several major infrastructure developments, such as completing the Sandpoint Bridge (shown), a second bridge over Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho that helps increase fluidity on the railroad’s northern corridor. BNSF Railway Co.The bypass especially pays dividends during the grain harvest when a substantial number of BNSF grain trains move through the Willmar terminal.
“[Our] continued investments and focus on innovative customer solutions allow [us] to grow with our customers in the evolving agricultural industry,” said BNSF VP of Agricultural and Energy Angela Caddell.
From delivering grain for exports, to efficiently moving feed ingredients to animals in the United States and building the renewable fuels supply chain of the future, other efforts in ag products are paying off, too. BNSF now moves more grain than any other railroad in North America.
“We started with four shuttle loading facilities in 1996 to serving 265 shuttle loading facilities today. And in 2004, we created the rail industry’s first-ever team of ombudsmen, dedicated to serving our ag customers as a point of contact with the railroad,” said Caddell.
The ombudsmen have established roots across the network and do a great job of building relationships with customers, she said.
In addition, a renewable fuels desk that opened earlier this year provides a customized, proactive view of pipeline management for transporting renewable fuels. The desk is charged with keeping products moving as fluid as possible while avoiding potential disruptions.
Desk employees serve as an expert team of eyes on customer products from origin to destination, said Caddell. They act as a group of hands-on consultants, communicating and collaborating with customers on a daily basis to customize rail transportation solutions designed for renewable fuels to reach target markets, she adds.
Over the past several years, BNSF has marked several other major developments, such as completing the Sandpoint Bridge, a second bridge over Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho to increase fluidity on its northern corridor; adding more sites to the BNSF Certified Sites program; and launching the Quantum premium intermodal service with J.B. Hunt Transport Inc.
Going forward, there are more accomplishments — and associated benefits — yet to come, BNSF leaders believe.
“Investments in capacity, both in decades past and the decade to come, position BNSF to capture and convert over-the-road traffic by the millions in the years ahead, reducing emissions while offering consistent capacity for global supply chains,” said Gabriel.
