BNSF recognizes employees for excellence

BNSF Railway Co. announced its annual "Employees of the Year Awards" earlier this week, which recognized dozens of employees for outstanding contributions in 2015.

At a ceremony held in Fort Worth, Texas, the awards were given to 52 employees for individual and team achievements, while another 40 employees were acknowledged for safety leadership in 2015. The employees were honored out of more than 40,000 employees across the company, according to a BNSF press release.

"Our Employees of the Year program is a way to recognize our people for outstanding efforts and results. I'm grateful for their hard work and dedication," said Carl Ice, BNSF president and chief executive officer. "These employees are a reflection of our entire team’s commitment to always remaining focused on safety, serving our customers, and delivering on the integral role we play in moving our global economy forward."

The award recipients actions span a range of achievements and reflect valuable contributions to some of BNSF's most important initiatives, company officials said. Examples of the award-winning efforts included the successful completion of projects to improve BNSF's velocity and to expand capacity, the completion of critical bridge construction and the opening of the Sweetwater Logistics Center.

Also honored were the Safety Employees of the Year. The mechanical, engineering, telecommunications and intermodal business unit operations teams each recognized an individual Safety Employee of the Year, while the transportation unit acknowledged the 34-member safety coordinator team.