[Photo: BNSF and J.B. Hunt/Business Wire]
by Lance Murray • Jan 25, 2024Fort Worth-based railroad transportation giant BNSF Railway announced its 2024 capital investment plan of $3.92 billion. The company says the plan will play an important role in the company’s ability to operate a safe and reliable network while supporting the anticipated needs of its customers.
“This year’s capital plan reflects our continued commitment to growth, by ensuring we have the capacity and equipment needed to support our customers,” President and CEO Katie Farmer said in a statement. “We continue to invest in our network to ensure we run our railroad as safely and efficiently as possible, while building upon the strong service our customers expect.”
The company said that the biggest part of this year’s capital plan, $2.88 billion, is devoted to maintaining BNSF’s core network and related assets.
BNSF said that investing in its existing infrastructure ensures the railroad is in top condition, resulting in less unscheduled service outages that can slow down the rail network and reduce capacity.
Maintenance projects include replacing and upgrading rail, track infrastructure like ballast and rail ties, and maintaining its rolling stock.
Maintenance will consist of nearly 13,000 miles of track surfacing and/or undercutting work and the replacement of 365 miles of rail and roughly 2.8 million rail ties, the company said. Roughly $440 million of this year’s capital plan is for equipment acquisitions, BNSF said.
Just under $600 million of this year’s capital plan will be for expansion and efficiency projects, adding to the nearly $2.6 billion invested in expansion projects over the past five years, BNSF said. This year’s plans support the growth of all the company’s customers across its network.
On its Southern Transcon route between the West Coast and the Midwest, BNSF said it will support traffic growth by completing two multiyear projects that will increase capacity throughout the corridor.
The projects include adding several segments of new track in eastern Kansas and terminal and fueling improvements near Belen, New Mexico. In Illinois, the company will continue multiyear intermodal facility expansion projects in Cicero, outside Chicago.
In California, BNSF said it will continue property acquisitions and development activities for the planned Barstow International Gateway project and complete a multiyear track efficiency improvement project in San Bernardino.
One of North America’s top freight transportation companies, BNSF Railway operates more than 32,500 route miles of track in 28 states and also operates in three Canadian provinces.
It’s one of the leading transporters of consumer goods, grain and agricultural products, low-sulfur coal, and industrial goods such as petroleum, chemicals, housing materials, food, and beverages.
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