Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF Coal Tonnage

From BNSF Today 01/28/2002 ...

BNSF handled a record 243.4 million tons of coal last year with 575 (3 percent) fewer coal train starts than in the previous record year of 1999. The new tonnage record is up 2.8 percent from the previous record of 236.8 million tons set in 1999. Tons per car were up 2.3 percent and cars per train were up 3.6 percent in 2001 compared with 1999.

"The productivity gains were achieved as a result of executing against a detailed joint operating and marketing plan," says Tom Kraemer, group vice president, Coal. "We worked with customers to get them to allow longer trains, and we are continued to encourage customers whose car fleets were made up of steel cars to replace them with aluminum cars, which can handle more coal than steel cars."

"Operationally, we focused on getting the right cars on the right trains," he continues. "Every coal train has an ideal length based on length of loading and unloading loop tracks and other considerations. On average, train length was 99.5 percent of that ideal length. More tons per car, increased train size and disciplined execution of the plan allowed us to realize major gains in productivity."

peddler