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(United Press International distributed the following article on January 15.)

PHOENIX — Retirees, dubbed snowbirds, who are heading north this spring after a winter in Arizona will have the option of sending their cars home by rail.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Autolog Corp. announced Thursday they were launching car-rail service from Phoenix to Chicago, Minneapolis and New York City starting March 4.

The service will cost around $450 and will get the vehicles to their spring destinations in 7-10 days, rather than the more-than-two weeks needed by auto-hauling trucks.

BNSF estimates that 250,000 snowbirds migrate to the Phoenix-Tucson area every winter with their vehicles.