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BNSF_Color_LogoBNSF Railway is furloughing employees in Northwest Montana and across its 32,000-mile system as freight traffic on America’s rails declines.

According to the Association of American Railroads, the number of freight car loads moved during the first full-week of May was down 7.9 percent from the same week last year. Freight traffic on America’s railroads were also down 5.3 percent in April when compared to the same month last year.

In a statement to the Beacon, BNSF spokesperson Matt Jones said that the railroad has temporarily furloughed employees at its terminals across the country, including Whitefish, Shelby and Havre. However, Jones said the railroad plans on bringing back all of the furloughed workers as soon as business permits.

Read more from the Flathead Beacon.

oil-train-railBakken Shale crude oil shipments via train have resumed in North Dakota, but there remain unanswered questions about what caused 10 tanker cars to derail and ignite in Heimdal, ND, earlier this month.

A spokesperson for BNSF, the railroad involved in the derailment, told NGI‘s Shale Daily on Tuesday that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues to investigate the May 6 accident, and the company is prevented from disclosing “any information that is germane” to the investigation.

In Washington, DC, an NTSB spokesperson said a final report, including identifying the cause of the incident, is likely to take up to a year, but some interim reports may be issued. NTSB’s Jim Southworth has been the investigator-in-charge.

Read more from NGI’s Shale Daily.

BNSF_Color_LogoBNSF Railway has reopened its tracks north of Fort Worth after multiple storm-related incidents during the weekend, the company’s executives say.

“Railroading is an outdoor sport, but we should also say these storms have over the last couple of weeks been really terrific in terms of damage,” said Matt Rose, BNSF executive chairman. “Certainly it’s a dangerous business. We’ve weathered it, so to speak, and we’ll get repaired and hopefully see sunnier skies.”

BNSF, which is based in Fort Worth, was hit by a triple-whammy of unfortunate events during the past several days.

Read more from the Star-Telegram.

BNSF_Color_LogoValley View, Texas – A freight train has derailed in North Texas during stormy weather leaving 17 cars off the tracks and four crewmembers slightly hurt.

BNSF Railway spokesman Joe Faust says the derailment happened early Friday near Valley View, 50 miles northwest of Dallas. Four engines and 13 cars derailed.

Faust says the southbound train was hauling a variety of freight to the Fort Worth area, but no hazardous materials. Nothing spilled.

Read more from ABC-13.

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Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) are on the scene today of a BNSF Railway Co. crude-oil train that derailed and caught fire yesterday morning in Heimdal, N.D.

The BNSF train consisted of 109 total cars, 107 of which were loaded with crude oil. Two buffer cars were loaded with sand. Six of the crude oil cars derailed at about 7:30 a.m., resulting in a fire and the town’s evacuation. All other cars were pulled away from the scene to a safe distance. No injuries were reported, according to a statement issued by BNSF. 

The tank cars involved in the incident were the unjacketed CPC-1232 models, which are among the tank-car models slated for retrofits or phasing out under new federal rules governing the safety of crude-by-rail transportation.

Read more from Progressive Railroading.

BNSF_Color_LogoA train carrying crude oil through Wells County, North Dakota derailed May 6. At least six rail cars have caught fire, sending thick, black plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. The village of Heimdal and nearby farms were evacuated.

The BNSF Railway oil tanker derailed around 7:30 a.m. local time, Wells County Emergency Manager Tammy Roehrich said, the Grand Forks Herald reported.

Emergency crews from several fire departments across the region responded, as well as hazardous materials teams from Devils Lakes and Grand Forks, Cecily Fong, public information officer for the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services, said.

Read more from RT.

BNSF_loco_K.D.McLaughlin_150pxGENOA, Wis. – Charles Burch was heading to his favorite ice fishing spot, a Mississippi River backwater south of Genoa, when he ran into a railroad detective.

The 74-year-old angler said the cop asked where he was headed.

“Obviously, I’m going fishing,” Burch said, retelling the story.

The railroad cop told him if he went across the tracks he’d get a trespassing ticket.

There was no other way to reach the water, so Burch turned around and hasn’t been back to that spot since. Never mind that he’d been fishing that slough for 40 years.

Read more from the StarTribune.

 

BNSF_Color_LogoBurlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. is extending its operating improvement plans as the railroad seeks to recover from “significant service-related challenges” that the carrier and its customers have struggled with over the past year.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the railroad’s parent, said BNSF has seen its network operate more smoothly lately as it has boosted capacity by expanding lines, adding locomotives and bringing in new hires. “We plan to continue our capital expansion and operational improvement initiatives in 2015 in order to meet customer demand and improve and maintain service levels,” the Berkshire said in its first-quarter 10-Q filing late Friday.

Read more from The Wall Street Journal.

 

BNSF_Color_LogoBNSF Railway Co. said Thursday it is cutting back hiring and instituting furloughs because of declining freight demand.

“Our workforce needs are driven by our customers’ freight transportation needs. Customers’ volumes in the near term have come down somewhat from their prior estimates; as a result, we are having to adjust our workforce demand numbers down to match volume and the work required to move that volume,” the company said in an emailed statement.

BNSF Railway spokeswoman Roxanne Butler said the company would be reducing its hiring plans for the next several months and temporarily furloughing a number of employees.

Read more from Lincoln Journal Star.

railyard, train yard; trainsThe nation’s four major railroads are still carrying less freight than they were before the recession. But the last decade has been an exhilarating ride for them nonetheless — an era of growing profits, soaring stock prices and ambitious investments.

For Jacksonville-based CSX Corp., freight volume has dropped 7 percent since 2004. Meanwhile, its shares have climbed to $35 from less than $6, and its net income has risen 450 percent, to almost $1.9 billion in 2013, according to SEC filings.

Read more from The Florida Times-Union.