BNSF Railway

This article is about the freight railroad company. For the Metra line operated by the railroad under contract, see BNSF Line.
BNSF Railway
System map (trackage rights and former Montana Rail Link tracks in purple)
BNSF 8033 leads a freight train up California's Cajon Pass
Overview
Parent companyBerkshire Hathaway
HeadquartersFort Worth, Texas
Reporting markBNSF
LocaleWestern, Midwestern and Southern United States, Western Canada
Dates of operationSeptember 22, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-09-22)–present
PredecessorAtchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Burlington Northern Railroad
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length33,400 miles (53,800 km)
Other
Websitebnsf.com

BNSF Railway (reporting mark BNSF) is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees,[1] 33,400 miles (53,800 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives.[2] It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail connections between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles (272 million kilometers) in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.[3]

The BNSF Railway Company is the principal operating subsidiary of parent company Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad's parent company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., of Omaha, Nebraska.[4] The current CEO is Kathryn Farmer.[5]

According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo, including coal.

The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company on September 22, 1995. This new holding company 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.[6] On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to BNSF Railway Company using the initials of its original name.[7] Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired BNSF Railway in February 2010, obtaining all of its shares and taking the company private.

BNSF and its chief competitor, the Union Pacific Railroad, have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western, Midwestern and Southern United States[8] and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.

  1. ^ "LLC 12.31.20 10K" (PDF). BNSF Railway 2020 10-K.
  2. ^ "BNSF – Fact Sheet" (PDF).
  3. ^ "TABLE 2-9 OPERATIONAL DATA, BY RAILROAD, 2010". Railroad Safety Statistics: 2010 Annual Report. U.S. Dept. of Transport. April 4, 2012.
  4. ^ "Financial Information". BNSF website.
  5. ^ "Our People". BNSF Railway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC, Officers. Archived from the original on June 27, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  6. ^ EuDaly, Kevin; Jessup, Steve; Schafer, Mike; Boyd, Jim; McBride, Andrew; Glischinski, Steve (2016). The Complete Book of North American Railroading. New York, NY: Crestline. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-7858-3389-5.
  7. ^ BNSF Railway (January 24, 2005). "BNSF Adopts New Corporate and Subsidiary Logos and Changes Name of Railway Subsidiary as Part of Tenth Anniversary Celebration". Archived from the original on November 29, 2005. Retrieved April 19, 2006.
  8. ^ Tully, Shawn (June 4, 2014). "The railroad with better profit margins than Google". Fortune. Retrieved August 10, 2021.