(The following report appeared on the Wellington (Kan.) Daily News website on November 30.)
KANSAS CITY — The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) has begun the grading, bridge, and signal work for adding a second main track to its route between Milan and Attica, Kansas. Track construction work is tentatively scheduled to begin in December.
BNSF is also installing an upgraded train signal system along with the new track. This will involve the installation of new signals and control houses at the new turnout and signal locations which represent the position of the new double track. The grading, bridge, signal and track work will continue through the winter months.
The new second main track in Harper and Sumner counties will allow present train traffic to move through the area more expeditiously and leave room for future business growth.
This track is part of BNSF’s premier rail route between Chicago and Southern California and carries many of the consumer goods and packages that millions of Americans consume every day. Once the additional track BNSF is constructing on this route is completed in 2005, more than 90 percent of this 2,214 mile route (Chicago – Los Angeles) will be double track.
A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America.
with about 32,500 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 is among the world’s top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, transports the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.