BNSF announces annual Employees of the Year Awards

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) recently recognized a special group of employees for their outstanding achievements in 2015 at an awards ceremony in Fort Worth, Tex. The annual Employees of the Year program is designed to recognize employees who demonstrate BNSF’s vision and values through their commitment, leadership and focus on working safely and efficiently to meet customer expectations. Their achievements positively impact BNSF customers, fellow employees, owners and the communities served by BNSF.

Toyota recognizes BNSF for logistics excellence

Toyota Logistics Services for the second year in a row named BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) the 2015 recipient of the President’s Award for Logistics Excellence. The President’s Award is Toyota’s highest supplier honor given to service partners who demonstrate combined excellence in quality, customer service and on-time performance. As part of the recognition, Toyota praised BNSF for achieving a 25% improvement over the prior year’s on-time performance. BNSF also received Toyota Logistics Services’ Logistics Excellence Award for on-time performance.

Pinpointing potential problems and quickly addressing them

“Progress is about harnessing technology that promotes safety, efficiency and better customer service,” according to CSX. “Machine vision gives us new vantages of passing cars, from top-of-car views to undercarriage shots. And all these images are taken as the train passes at track speed. Machine vision allows us to pinpoint potential problems and quickly address them before they grow into larger issues that can cause service delays.”

AAR names environmental award recipients

The Association of American Railroads on April 12, 2016 presented Michael Hoey, a CSX Transportation civil engineer from Philadelphia, Pa., the 2016 John H. Chafee Environmental Excellence Award. U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) was the 2016 John H. Chafee Congressional Environmental Award.

BNSF and partners to construct AllianceTexas integrated facility

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), Hillwood and Packwell announced on April 5, 2016 that they have agreed on a framework for construction of a new plastics export packaging facility in the rail-connected Alliance Westport industrial sector, located within the 18,000-acre, master-planned, mixed-use AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth, Tex.

Commentary

The day Rollin Bredenberg (and I) changed the course of railroading

April 2016 will be remembered decades from now as the month when Rollin Bredenberg retired as V.P., Capacity Planning & Operations Research at BNSF Railway.

BNSF launches ‘Making Connections’ video series

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) on March 30, 2016 launched the first video in a new series called “Making Connections,” which takes viewers behind the scenes with railroad employees as they provide the safe transportation of people and products across the Pacific Northwest.

BNSF announces certified, rail-served sites for development

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) on March 10, 2016 announced a new Site Certification Program aimed at identifying optimal rail-served sites for customer development along its network. To launch the new program, BNSF developed a list of candidates and conducted in-depth reviews of 10 economic development criteria to determine if the industrial sites meet BNSF’s stringent readiness standards, which are intended to minimize development risks customers may face.

BNSF plans $180 million capex for Illinois in 2016

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) on March 9, 2016 announced that its 2016 capital expenditure program in Illinois will be about $180 million. The largest components of this year’s capital plan in the state will be for maintenance projects and improvements to BNSF facilities. Maintenance projects include replacing and upgrading rail, rail ties and ballast, which are the main components for the tracks on which BNSF trains operate. This year’s plan in Illinois brings capital investments more in line with forecasted customer freight service demand, the railroad says.

BNSF drives $1.2 billion in customer investments

Customers served by BNSF Railway invested $1.2 billion in new or expanded facilities in 103 communities and created more than 1,500 jobs across the BNSF rail network in 2015, marking the fifth consecutive year that BNSF customers and local economic development organizations have invested more than $1 billion annually for new or expanded facilities.

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