(The Associated Press circulated the following story on February 4.)
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The Montana Farmers Union is calling for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to reverse an increase in rates for westbound shipment of Montana grain.
“Given the record earnings the railroad posted for the fourth quarter of 2003, we find it unconscionable that the BNSF has not yet rescinded its December decision to increase rates,” Brooks Dailey, president of the union, said in a prepared statement. “We call on the company to roll back its rates immediately.”
Burlington Northern last week reported record earnings for the fourth quarter of 2003. Profits for the quarter were up nearly 12 percent. The nation’s second-largest freight railroad earned $226 million, or 61 cents a share, for the October-December period. The figures a year earlier were $202 million, or 54 cents a share.
Freight revenue for the fourth quarter of 2003 increased 8 percent.