BNSF counters newspaper’s “implications”

Reflecting growing tension within the Twin Cities, BNSF is using its media-specific website, now six months old, to counter what it says is misleading information supplied by the Star-Tribune, serving Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn,, involving railroad safety issues.

“BNSF wants to assure the public that, contrary to the implications of the Star-Tribune story, the company operates with honesty and integrity and has achieved an excellent safety record,” the railroad stated.

The website, www.bnsf.com/casefacts, seeks “to correct blatant unfairness in the Minneapolis Star Tribune/ProPublica’s coverage of BNSF’s conduct in grade crossing and railroad employee safety issues. The website contains documents, data, and other evidence so that readers misinformed by the Star Tribune can find the truth. The website will be updated as needed to correct further errors and omissions in Star Tribune coverage,” the railroad said.

"BNSF has worked hard to prevent grade crossing accidents and promote employee safety and as a result BNSF has one of the best safety records in the railroad industry," said John Ambler, BNSF vice president of corporate relations.

A Sunday Star-Tribune article on rail safety did note, “BNSF’s accident rate dropped 28% in the past decade, and collision-related fatalities dropped 42%.”

But BNSF Sunday said in response, “The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has spent the better part of a year and many journalists’ time combing through hundreds of cases occurring over the past 30 years trying to find a ‘smoking gun.’ Relying heavily on materials from plaintiff’s attorneys, with a financial interest in the matter, they found little, if any true evidence of any misdeeds. The resulting story is filled with bias, innuendo, and misrepresentation of the facts.”