(BNSF Railway issued the following on March 18, 2009.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway Company is replacing rail along its mainline track between Needles and Verdemont, Calif. Thirty-five BNSF employees will replace more than 14 track miles of rail at the approximate rate of one mile per day through early April. This maintenance of way project will cost about $7 million.
“This section of track is part of our southern transcon corridor, BNSF’s premier route between the ports of Southern California and all points in the east, including Logistics Park – Chicago,” said Dave Freeman, BNSF vice president, Engineering. “Approximately 4 million loads moved along that line last year and included everything from construction products to portable CD players. It is an essential link to the East.”
Recently, BNSF completed 15 miles of third main track on Cajon pass in California on the Southern Transcon. This $100 million project took several years to complete and significantly improved capacity.
Crews working on track maintenance projects utilize equipment such as cranes, welders and ballast tampers to replace rail at a rate of almost one mile a day. Materials replaced on the rail line will be reused or recycled in keeping with BNSF’s environmental stewardship policies.
BNSF currently expects to spend approximately $2 billion this year to keep the railway’s infrastructure strong by refreshing track, signal systems, structures, freight cars, and upgrading technologies.
About BNSF
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI), BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is among the world’s top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, carries the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulfur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.