BNSF Facts

Route Miles: 32,000
Number of Employees: 40,000
Locomotives: 6,700
Average Freight Cars on System: 220,000

Coal

More than 10 percent of the electricity produced in the United States, enough to power one out of every ten homes in the nation, is now generated from coal hauled by BNSF.
More than 90 percent of the coal BNSF hauls comes from the Powder River Basin (PRB) in Wyoming and Montana, which contains the world's largest single deposit of low-sulfur coal.
PRB coal is 60 percent lower in sulfur than most other U.S. coal sources. Steam-electric utilities can meet the tougher Phase I and Phase II standards of the Clean Air Act by switching to PRB coal instead of using expensive scrubbers.
PRB coal is also the most economical steam fuel source for many utilities. A majority of the 50 lowest-cost steam-electric plants in the U.S. burn coal from the Powder River Basin.

Agricultural Products

BNSF serves more of the nation's major grain-producing regions than any other railroad.
BNSF is one of the largest grain-hauling railroads in the United States.
In 2007, BNSF transported more than 1 million carloads of agricultural commodities, nearly half of which were corn and wheat movements. BNSF hauls enough grain to supply 900 million people with a year's supply of bread.
Approximately 50 percent of the agricultural commodities traffic BNSF hauls is transported to export points in the Pacific Northwest, Gulf of Mexico, Mexico and the Great Lakes.
BNSF hauls enough fertilizer in one year to fertilize a field the size of the entire state of Kansas.

Consumer Products

Intermodal

In 2007, almost 5 million intermodal shipments (truck trailers or containers) were transported on BNSF's rail lines instead of on the nation's congested highways. That's the equivalent of a truck trailer or container being loaded onto a BNSF intermodal train every 6 seconds.
The average BNSF intermodal train moves the equivalent of what 280 trucks could move.
BNSF is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic. Major products moved in the trailers and containers BNSF transports include such items as mail, small packaged goods, paper products, clothes, appliances, electronic products and auto parts.
During peak season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, BNSF ships more than 50 million packages for UPS—on time.
BNSF's fastest intermodal service moves 760 miles per day—200 miles more than single-driver truck service.

Carload

A new car or truck is loaded onto a BNSF automobile train approximately every 21 seconds. That amounts to approximately 1.5 million vehicles, or about 1 out of every 11 cars and trucks manufactured in North America.
The new vehicles are shipped to 33 destination ramps across BNSF's system for final delivery by truck to local auto dealerships.
BNSF is the largest transporter of beer and wine by rail in the United States.
BNSF transports enough canned beverages to supply every resident of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles with one beverage a day for nearly one year.
BNSF moves enough sugar to make more than 3 million batches of cookies a year.
BNSF transports more than 1 billion cans of canned goods each year.

Industrial Products

Forest Products

BNSF serves more of North America's primary timber-producing regions than any other railroad (Pacific Northwest, Canada, Northern Minnesota and the Southeast).

BNSF transports…

Enough lumber each year to build more than 500,000 homes.
Enough newsprint each year to print 1 billion Sunday newspapers.
Enough printing paper to print more than 1 billion catalogs.
Enough paperboard to manufacture more than 2 billion cardboard boxes.

Chemicals

BNSF transports....

Enough propane each year to fill more than 100 million five-gallon propane tanks.
Enough lube oil to fill 1.6 billion quarts of motor oil.
Enough petroleum wax to produce 100 million fire logs.
Enough asphalt to lay a single lane road four times around the equator.

Metals

BNSF annually handles enough coiled sheet steel to lay the unrolled coils end to end 12 times between New York, NY and Seattle, WA.
Each year, BNSF handles enough recycled iron and steel to produce reinforcing bar to rebuild more than 3,900 miles of interstate highway.

Minerals

BNSF transports the mineral components of many of the products we enjoy everyday, including the roads we drive on (cement, asphalt), the buildings in which we live and work (gypsum, crushed stone, limestone, iron ore), the glass (soda ash) in the windows we look through, and even the paper (kaolin clay) used in many of the documents you read.

Environmental Facts

BNSF is committed to environmental stewardship. BNSF plays a vital role in our nation's economy, while reducing emissions, saving fuel and relieving highway congestion.
Railroads are the most environmentally friendly mode of surface transportation, and BNSF is among the rail industry's leaders.

Highway Congestion

Between 1993 and 2003, the cost of highway congestion in urban areas rose from $39.4 billion to $63.1 billion annually. Railroads play an important role in reducing highway congestion working with trucking companies to divert long-haul freight to the rails.
U.S. trucking companies are seeking ways to reduce their fuel costs and overcome driver shortages and BNSF's intermodal has been a solution.
BNSF is among the world's largest intermodal carriers, handling about 5 million containers and trailers annually. Just one BNSF intermodal train can take up to 280 trucks off of our nation's crowded highways.
BNSF's Seattle International Gateway handles more than 300,000 containers annually.
BNSF's international intermodal business has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 11 percent between 1998 and 2007. During the same time period, BNSF's domestic intermodal freight grew at a compound annual growth rate of 1.4 percent.

Fuel Efficiency

Rail is the most environmentally friendly form of surface transportation. Each train can move one ton of freight 423 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel.
Rail is three to four times more fuel efficient than trucks.
If just 10 percent of the freight that currently moves by truck were diverted to rail, fuel savings would exceed one billion gallons per year.

Air Emissions

BNSF is the first railroad in North America to install zero-emissions, rail-mounted intermodal cranes. These cranes produce zero emissions on site and actually generate power every time they lower a load.
If 10 percent of long-haul freight now moving by truck moved by rail, annual greenhouse gas emissions would fall by more than 12 million tons.
American railroads move 40 percent of our nation's freight, but account for just 2.2 percent of all transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions, and just 0.6 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.