Railroad News

BNSF Railway Co. eliminated 62 management jobs last week and realigned its operations organization from three regions to two as of June 1.

Two major factors drove the changes: a reduction in coal traffic as well as "significant capital investments" made to increase efficiency and safety, according to a company statement.

A Wisconsin judge has determined that state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials followed state law when they issued permits to BNSF Railway Co. to build a second track through a marsh in LaCrosse, according to a report in The LaCrosse Tribune.

In a petition filed last year, the Midwest Environmental Advocates filed a petition arguing that the DNR did not conduct a full environmental impact statement under Wisconsin law when it reviewed BNSF's application, the newspaper reported.

The Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA) and local government officials recently marked the completion or near completion of two rail bridge projects as part of a broader effort by Orange, County, Calif., to separate car and pedestrian traffic from a freight-rail line, the authority announced earlier this week.

A ceremony was held Tuesday on top of the new Orangethorpe Avenue overpass near Miller Street at the border of Placentia and Anaheim, Calif. Construction has been underway for the past three years on the Orangethorpe overpass and the Tustin Avenue/Rose Road overpass.

BNSF Railway Co. announced late last week that Greg Fox, executive vice president of operations, will retire in August after more than 30 years with the railroad.

Fox, who has served in his current post since November 2010, will be succeeded by Dave Freeman effective June 1. Freeman will oversee the entire operations organization, including engineering, environmental, mechanical, operations support, transportation, safety and training, service design and resource protection.

At nearly 37 mph, BNSF's intermodal train velocity of late is about 17 percent higher than the U.S. Class I average.

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BNSF Railway Co.'s first-quarter 2016 net income plummeted 25 percent to $784 million and revenue fell 15 percent to $4.8 billion compared with a year ago, as the Class I faced a continued decline in demand for coal and certain industrial products categories, according to a government filing by BNSF parent company Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

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Curwin Piper typically brings his rig to BNSF Railway Co.’s Dallas-area intermodal terminal four or five times a day. A truck driver for WB Container Services Inc., Piper got used to spending five minutes or more providing shipment information and waiting at an in-gate kiosk each time he delivered a trailer to the facility in Alliance, Texas, then another five-plus minutes doing likewise when he departed.

Lodestar Energy Group is developing a rail-served natural gas liquids (NGL) facility and rail-car storage yard at the Gulf Inland Logistics Park near Dayton, Texas, the company announced yesterday.

Scheduled to open in second-quarter 2018, the facility will be served by BNSF Railway Co. and Union Pacific Railroad, Lodestar officials said in a press release.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission approved $22,964 in grants to make safety improvements to high-risk grade crossings along an oil train route in Skamania and Klickitat counties.

The commission approved the Grade Crossing Protective Fund grants at the request of BNSF Railway Co., which asked for the amount to upgrade crossings at Butler Road in Skamania County and Walnut Street in the city of Bingen. Each crossing has been identified by the UTC as an under-protected crossing along an oil route, commission officials said in a press release.

BNSF Railway Co. this week honored 109 shippers with the Class I's annual Product Stewardship Award for the safe transportation of hazardous materials by rail last year.

The companies were recognized for transporting a minimum of 500 loaded tank cars of hazardous materials during 2015 with zero non-accident releases during the entire transportation cycle and for successfully implementing the ethics of Product Stewardship under the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care® initiative, according to a BNSF press release.

BNSF Railway Co. has installed signage on the Illinois side of the railroad's bridge that crosses the Mississippi River in Quincy, Ill., to discourage trespassers, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) announced late last week.

The railroad installed the "No Trespassing" signs after BNSF security video showed people being on the tracks illegally in the area, according to an ICC press release.

BNSF Railway Co. has been named the 2015 recipient of the President's Award for Logistics Excellence by Toyota Logistics Services for the second consecutive year, the Class I announced yesterday.

The award is Toyota's highest honor given to suppliers that demonstrate combined excellence in quality, customer service and on-time performance, according to a BNSF press release.

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.

BNSF Railway Co. may cancel plans to build a new intermodal rail facility near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach following a California judge's recent ruling that found fault with the proposed project's environmental review process.

After reviewing California Superior Court Judge Barry Good's ruling, BNSF officials are "troubled by what the decision represents and uncertain whether moving forward with the project is feasible at this time," said BNSF Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Steve Bobb in a press release.

BNSF Railway Co., real estate developer Hillwood and resin packaging firm Packwell Inc. have agreed on a framework for construction of a new plastics export packaging facility at the AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth, Texas.

The facility will be built in the rail-connected Alliance Westport industrial sector located at AllianceTexas, a 180,000-acre mixed-use development, according to a press release issued by Hillwood.

A California superior court judge's ruling this week has halted BNSF Railway Co.'s $500 million intermodal project near the Port of Los Angeles.

The ruling involved several lawsuits filed against a plan to build a 153-acre intermodal rail facility known as the Southern California International Gateway. The lawsuits were filed over concerns that the project would have a harmful effect on nearby neighborhoods and the environment.

Amazon.com Inc. has plans to build a 800,000-square-foot fulfillment center adjacent to BNSF Railway Co.'s Logistics Park Kansas City intermodal facility in Edgerton, Kan., the online retailer and state officials announced last week.

The fulfillment center, which is expected to employ 1,000 full-time workers, will pick, pack and ship large retail items to customers, according to a press release issued by Amazon.com.

BNSF Railway Co. has rolled out more of its 2016 state-by-state capital expenditure plans, with the latest programs announced for Texas, Illinois and Kansas.

In Texas, BNSF will spend $210 million this year to replace and upgrade rail, rail ties and ballast, BNSF officials said in a press release.

BNSF Railway Co. yesterday unveiled a new site certification program aimed at identifying optimal rail-served sites for customer development along the Class I's network.

To develop the program, BNSF drafted a list of candidates and conducted in-depth reviews of 10 economic development criteria to determine if the industrial sites meet the railroad's readiness standards. The standards are intended to minimize development risks customers may face, BNSF officials said in a press release.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Justice recently reached an agreement with BNSF Railway Co. over oil spill incidents in three states and the railroad's response plans in Colorado, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota, the agencies have announced.

Reached late last month, the agreement resolved alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act at several locations in the four states, according to an EPA press release.