By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
The fall harvest season is just gearing up in North America. Many crops of soybeans, corn, wheat, sugar and other agricultural products will be gathered and transported to various storage/distribution points between now and well into 2024.
That means BNSF Railway Co. figures to be very busy. The Class I moves the most ag products among North American railroads.
Between 2013 and 2022, BNSF’s ag volume growth exceeded the rest of the North American rail industry by more than fivefold. Last year, the Class I hauled 1.2 million carloads of ag products.
On an annual basis, BNSF moves enough grain to supply 730 million people with a year’s supply of bread and enough sugar to bake more than 12 billion dozen cookies.
Over the past several months, the railroad has been prepping for the 2023 harvest season by finishing up track maintenance, completing new infrastructure, adding resources and refining technologies.
“Every year, we collaborate with customers, and plan and position our resources to execute a successful ramp up for the busy fall harvest. This year is no different — we stand at the ready to serve our U.S. farmers and agricultural producers,” said BNSF Group Vice President of Agricultural Products Angela Caddell in an online post.
On an annual basis, the Class I moves enough grain to supply 730 million people with a year’s supply of bread and enough sugar to bake more than 12 billion dozen cookies. BNSF Railway Co. The Class I has budgeted nearly $4 billion for capital expenditures this year, including $2.85 billion for infrastructure maintenance. Some recently completed projects will help support ag product movements.
Along BNSF’s northern route, the new Sandpoint Bridge in Sandpoint, Idaho, will support bi-directional traffic across Lake Pend Oreille. A second mainline track there will help reduce traffic congestion and increase capacity.
“Previously, the presence of only one span put a constraint on traffic through the Pacific Northwest. The second span, coupled with double-track work in eastern Washington, enhances our capacity across the north for the busy harvest season,” BNSF officials said in the post.
The engineering department also has acquired one new rail-bound snowplow and upgraded switch heaters with stronger blowers and more reliable fuel sources to help keep mainlines, yards and switches clear of snow in late fall and through winter.
“Our winter action plans have been reviewed and refined coming out of a challenging 2022-23 winter. We’ve hardened our network for extreme weather, including finishing up yearly scheduled capital maintenance before the grain season kicks off,” BNSF officials said.
Moreover, the Class I has added 50 locomotives to its fleet, prepositioned more motive power in the north and acquired more hopper cars to better handle a heavy flow of ag products.
In terms of improving communication within its ag network, BNSF employs a grain desk, or a team dedicated to coordinating and sharing grain origins and destinations with the operating department 24/7. The team also aims to keep customers up to date on current and upcoming service performance throughout the harvest season.
One key component to providing optimal service to grain shippers is shuttle trains. About 80% of BNSF’s grain volume is moved by grain shuttles, which pull 100 or more hopper cars.
The shuttles — which typically originate from one location and head to one destination with assigned locomotives — are loaded and unloaded within shorter time periods.
BNSF operated its first grain shuttle in 1996. Now, the Class I manages 382 shuttles in the United States — including 264 origins and 118 destinations — as well as 38 throughout Mexico.
The railroad has added 50 locomotives to its fleet, prepositioned more motive power in the north and acquired more hopper cars to better handle a heavy flow of ag products. BNSF Railway Co. “As we head into the fall harvest, we’re preparing our grain shuttle fleet to handle all the grain that producers need us to move,” BNSF officials said.
Various technologies also will play a big role in the railroad’s ability to accommodate ag product shippers. To that end, the railroad earlier this year enhanced its “Trace” tool to show a customer’s entire freight portfolio on BNSF and provide the ability to obtain additional shipment information in real time.
The tool also now consolidates alerts to customers regarding the waybill, trip plans, equipment condition and other factors.
“Customers can now track all their trains, units and customer support cases using one app. The ability to schedule updates related to their cars, including specific events, supplements the information and alerts for broad awareness should there be issues,” said Carrie Whitman, BNSF’s general director of marketing systems.
In addition, BNSF recently improved its rail-car management tool, which customers use to coordinate their freight in and out of a facility. The tool now better enables shippers to anticipate surges or deficits in freight and adjust their transportation plans accordingly.
“This pipeline management tool gives customers the power to better order-in cars, but also includes a day-by-day pipeline view of cars destined for the facility over 20 days for planning purposes,” Whitman said.
Another technological goal? Providing a more robust suite of application programming interfaces (APIs), which bridge BNSF’s and customers’ information technology systems to exchange real-time data more efficiently.
The Class I now offers more than 40 APIs in several commodity groups. The interfaces improve shipment visibility by providing real-time tracking information and reducing manual data entries.
“Essentially, a customer can use their systems to pull data based on their freight directly from BNSF,” said Whitman. “This allows customers to automatically get information when they need it rather than having to go through several steps, websites or applications to find it.”
