System map (trackage rights in purple)
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Reporting mark | BNSF |
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Locale | Midwest United States, Western United States, Manitoba, British Columbia |
Dates of operation | December 31, 1996 | –Present
Predecessor | |
Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) |
Length | 32,500 miles (52,300 km) |
Headquarters | Fort Worth, Texas |
Website | www |
Founded | December 31, 1996 in Delaware as Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway |
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Key people
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Carl Ice (chairman, president, and CEO) |
Revenue | US$21.552 billion (2013) |
US$6.668 billion (2013) | |
US$4.271 billion (2013) | |
Total assets | US$73.461 billion (2013) |
Total equity | US$48.414 billion (2013) |
Number of employees
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43,000 (Dec 2013) |
Parent | Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation |
Website | www |
The BNSF Railway (reporting mark BNSF) is one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) (its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight), and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has 44,000 employees, 32,500 miles (52,300 km) of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide rail links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles (272 million km) in 2010, more than any other North American railroad. The BNSF and UP have a duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western U.S. and share trackage rights over thousands of miles of track.
According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight in North America. It also hauls bulk cargo. For instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation on September 22, 1995. This new holding company then purchased the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (often called the "Santa Fe") and Burlington Northern Railroad, and formally merged the railways into the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway on December 31, 1996. On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to "BNSF Railway," using the initials of its original name.