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On Oct. 21, BNSF Railway Co. moved Southwest Grain’s 100th wheat shuttle train since July 19, 1999. During that span, the railroad has moved more than 38 million bushels of wheat from the grain cooperative’s Boyle, N.D., elevator to various destinations.

However, the shipper only moves one-third of its grain via shuttle train; the remainder moves via single cars and non-shuttle train service.

“We were able to work with Southwest Grain to design the appropriate infrastructure that will give its co-op members the most competitive access to global and domestic markets,” says Kevin Kaufman, BNSF group vice president, agricultural products business unit, in a prepared statement. “The result is that not only does Southwest Grain have more shipping and capacity flexibility, but the resulting savings can be passed along to its co-op members.”

Launched in 1996, BNSF's shuttle-train network serves more than 210 facilities that ship agricultural products, including corn, wheat and sorghum.