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The BNSF Railway , headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas , is one of the largest railroad networks in North America (only one competitor, the Union Pacific Railroad , is comparable in size). It was formed December 31 , 1996 as the '''Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway''' when the Atchison, Topeka And Santa Fe Railway was merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad . On January 24 2005 , the railroad's name was officially changed to BNSF Railway.1 The BNSF Railway is a Wholly-owned Subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation , the Holding Company formed by the September 22 , 1995 merger of Burlington Northern, Incorporated and the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation . According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of Intermodal traffic in North America, and moves more grain than any other American railroad. It also hauls enough Coal to generate roughly 10% of the electricity produced in the United States . BNSF TRACKAGE equipment in Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin , August 8 , 2004 . Lead unit is painted in the Heritage II scheme.]] The BNSF Railway directly owns and operates track in 27 , Arizona , Arkansas , California , Colorado , Idaho , Illinois , Iowa , Kansas , Louisiana , Minnesota , Mississippi , Missouri , Montana , Nebraska , Nevada , New Mexico , North Dakota , Oklahoma , Oregon , South Dakota , Tennessee , Texas , Utah , Washington , Wisconsin , and Wyoming . In addition, the railway also operates a small amount of track in British Columbia, Canada , including an approximate 30-mile (48 kilometer) section that runs from the U.S.-Canada border to Vancouver also trackage, running rights and a yard in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. For administrative purposes, BNSF is divided into thirteen different divisions: Chicago, Gulf, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Northern California, Northwest, Powder River, Southern California, Southwest, Springfield, Texas, and Twin Cities. Each division is further divided into hundreds of different subdivisions, which represent segments of track ranging from 300-mile mainlines to 10-mile branch-lines. Not including second, third and fourth main line trackage, yard trackage, and siding trackage, BNSF directly operates some 24,500 miles (39,429 kilometers) of track. When these additional tracks are counted, however, the amount of track that the railway has direct control over rises to over 50,000 miles (80,467 kilometers). Additionally, the BNSF Railway has been able to gain Trackage Rights on over 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) of track throughout the United States and Canada . These rights allow the BNSF to operate its own trains with its own crews on competing railroads' main tracks. BNSF Locomotive s also occasionally show up on competitors' tracks throughout the United States and Canada by way of lease and other contractual arrangements. BNSF YARDS AND FACILITIES BNSF operates various facilities all over the United States to support its transportation system. Some of the various facilities operated by the railway include yards and terminals throughout its rail network, system locomotive shops to perform locomotive service and maintenance, a centralized operations center for train dispatching and network operations monitoring in Fort Worth, Texas , regional dispatching centers, computers, telecommunications equipment, and signal systems. The BNSF Railway also operates numerous transfer facilities throughout the western United States in order to facilitate the transfer of intermodal containers, trailers, and other freight traffic. The BNSF Railway has direct control over a total of 36 intermodal hubs and 25 automotive distribution facilities. On February 9 2005 , BNSF announced that it plans to build a new intermodal transfer facility near the port of Los Angeles ; the new facility, with direct rail access to the recently constructed Alameda Corridor , would supplement the container transloading abilities of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) built by Southern Pacific in the 1990s . Large freight car Hump Yards are also scattered throughout the BNSF system. In 2003 , the Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kansas processed the largest number of freight cars. The BNSF mechanical division is responsible for operating 8 locomotive maintenance facilities involved with preventive maintenance, repairs and servicing of equipment. The largest of these facilities are located in Lincoln, Nebraska and Topeka, Kansas . Furthermore, the mechanical division also controls 46 additional facilities that are responsible for car maintenance and daily running repairs. Meanwhile, the BNSF system mechanical division, a subset of the mechanical division, also operates two maintenance-of-way work equipment shops, responsible for performing repairs and preventative maintenance to BNSF's track and equipment, in Brainerd, Minnesota and Galesburg, Illinois . The system mechanical division is also responsible for the operation of the Western Fruit Express Company's refrigerated car repair shop in Spokane, Washington . BNSF'S NORTHERN ROUTE Northern route overview One of the routes operated by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe traverses the most northerly route of any Railroad in the western United States . This route was originally part of the Northern Pacific Railway system, followed by the Burlington Northern Railroad system. The route starts at Chicago and runs west across northern Illinois to the Mississippi River ; it follows the eastern shore of the river through La Crosse and Prairie Du Chien before turning west again in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota to Grand Forks, North Dakota . From Grand Forks the route runs west through North Dakota , Montana , and Idaho to Spokane, Washington . At Spokane the route splits into two routes, one going to Seattle, Washington and the other to Portland, Oregon . This route required construction of the Flathead Tunnel through the Rocky Mountains in Montana and the new Cascade Tunnel through the Cascade Mountains in Washington . This route is traveled by Amtrak 's Empire Builder .Also owned in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada is trackage, running rights and a yard operated by a force of clerks, a switch unit and full crew and the track is maintained by a small track crew. Traveling east from Seattle, Washington to the western portal of the Cascade Tunnel Traveling east from the King Street Station in Seattle, Washington , the main line of the BNSF heads north through a tunnel under downtown Seattle. After exiting the tunnel the main line continues north through the Interbay classification yard and maintenance facilities and across the Lake Washington Ship Canal on the Salmon Bay Bridge . The main line continues north along the shore of Puget Sound through the cities of Edmonds, Washington and Mukilteo, Washington past Rucker Hill in Everett, Washington to the old Everett station. From there the main line makes a 180 degree turn through a partially covered cut through downtown Everett to the new Everett station. From the new station, the main line heads south, then southeast along the Snohomish River through the cities of Snohomish, Washington and Monroe, Washington . From Monroe the main line follows the Skykomish River through the towns of Index, Washington and Skykomish, Washington to the western portal of the Cascade Tunnel . |
Image:BNSF-1jpgMain Line Heading North Out Of
| "http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Seattle,_Washington" class="copylinks">Seattle, Washington along the shore of Puget Sound |
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