FORT WORTH, Texas — The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) today announced it has expanded its guaranteed intermodal service to include two additional lanes between Northern California and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. The guarantee is now available for service between Stockton, Calif. and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and between Richmond, Calif. and Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. These lanes were added just in time for the intermodal peak shipping season.
With these additional lanes, BNSF now offers guaranteed intermodal service in 18 lanes connecting major U.S. markets. The lanes are:
— Chicago/Phoenix
— Stockton/Alliance (DFW) (New)
— Chicago/Stockton
— Richmond/Alliance (DFW) (New)
— Chicago/Richmond
— Kansas City/Richmond
— Chicago/Seattle
— Kansas City/Stockton
— Chicago/Portland
— Kansas City/San Bernardino
— Chicago/San Bernardino
— St. Paul/Seattle
— Chicago/Denver
— St. Paul/Portland
— Chicago/Alliance (DFW)
— Memphis/San Bernardino
— San Bernardino/Harrisburg
— Alliance (DFW)/San Bernardino
BNSF began offering guaranteed intermodal service in May 2000. Since the inception of this service BNSF has moved more than 8,000 guaranteed loads. The guarantee allows shippers to purchase, for a premium, a service guarantee for three intermodal service levels for international, domestic and perishable intermodal shipments in these 18 lanes. For each load that does not meet the scheduled availability time for customer pick-up, BNSF will offer a 100-percent refund.
“BNSF experienced a large spike in the number of guaranteed loads moving across our network during last year’s intermodal peak shipping season, which normally runs from September through November,” said Steve Branscum, group vice president, BNSF Consumer Products Marketing. “This expansion is designed to attract a greater share of freight moving over-the-road between Northern California and Texas during this busy season by giving shippers a risk-free transportation alternative.”
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI – News), BNSF operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with 33,000 route miles covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com . The railway moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America’s largest grain-hauling railroad, transports the mineral components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough coal to generate more than 10 percent of the electricity produced in the United States.