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Safety First

Posted on March 24, 2024

For BNSF, the safety of the communities we serve across our 32,500-mile route network, as well as our 37,000 employees, remains the highest priority. This commitment is reflected in our performance in 2023, a record year for workplace safety in the company’s 175-year history. We achieved this safety milestone through a groundbreaking Transportation Safety Agreement,…

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KEEPING BC CONNECTED

BNSF Railway carries millions of carloads of freight each year, delivering food and consumer products to local businesses, and connecting our region’s farmers and manufacturers to customers around the world.

  • BNSF moves 5.3 million units of consumer goods every year, including groceries and household essentials
  • BNSF hauls enough energy to power 11.5 million homes
  • Every 11 seconds, a new vehicle is loaded or unloaded onto a BNSF train
  • 5.3 million intermodal shipments were transported on our rail lines instead of congested highways in 2019
  • BNSF transports enough lumber every year to build more than 500,000 homes
  • Every year, BNSF hauls enough grain to supply 900 million people with a year’s supply of bread

MOVING TOWARD A CLEANER ENVIRONMENT

BNSF is proud to be an industry leader in protecting the environment. Our fleet of locomotives is already one of the newest and cleanest-burning in North America, and we continue to upgrade with new and more efficient engines.

  • A single BNSF intermodal train can move as much as 280 semi-trucks, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 75%
  • From 2015 to 2019, BNSF has cut NOx and particulate matter emissions by more than 11% and 25%, respectively
  • One BNSF train can move one ton of freight nearly 200 kilometers on less than one liter of diesel
  • In the last ten years, we’ve replaced close to 40% of our fleet with more energy efficient locomotives

EVERYTHING WE DO STARTS WITH SAFETY

Freight rail is already the safest mode of ground transportation, and we’re always working to improve it. We continue to invest across our network to make the transportation of crude oil and other hazardous materials even safer.
  • $3 billion USD planned investment in technology, infrastructure, and equipment in 2021
  • More than 9,000 first responders trained in 2020
  • More than 125,000 emergency responders trained since 1996
  • BNSF invests an average of $120 million USD annually on grade-crossing maintenance, improvements, and safety programs

INSPECTING OUR TRACKS AND BRIDGES

BNSF is committed to the safe operation of every single kilometer of our network. Our track inspections include on-site visual inspections, and we utilize state-of-the-art technology to help identify defects or problem areas undetectable by the human eye.
  • More than $1 billion USD devoted to rail bridge capital investments since 2006
  • 4,000+ trackside detectors deployed across the BNSF Railway network
  • 650+ inspectors visually inspect more than 16,000,000 kilometers of track every year
  • Approximately 724,000 kilometers of tracks annually tested by autonomous geometry cars

THE BNSF NETWORK

Operating in 3 Provinces and 28 US States

BNSF Freight Cars: 70,000

Locomotives: 8,000

Route Kilometers: 52,300

Number of Employees: 40,000+

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