BNSF Railway will invest approximately $6 billion in 2015—the largest investment in its history—with the goal of increasing speeds, expanding infrastructure capacity, and generally improving the network. The announcement was made last November, and details on how these funds will be allocated are now taking shape. This marks the third consecutive year of record-breaking investment.
The area where the most investment will be made is in the northern states, where the development of shale oil fields is having a significant impact on traffic.
Key figures include plans to work on 270 bridges, 1,500 kilometers of track, 3.5 million fasteners, and 34,700 kilometers of ballast renewal. BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight rail companies in North America. It operates a 53,000-kilometer rail network across twenty-eight states and two Canadian provinces.
By region, in BNSF's Northern Region, the company will invest approximately 1.3 billion across eight states for maintenance and expansion projects. BNSF's Northern Region has experienced the fastest growth in recent years. This corridor is used to transport agricultural products and coal to ports in the Pacific Northwest, petroleum products produced in the region that are destined for refineries, and consumer goods shipped to and from seaports in the Pacific Northwest. The Northern Region is also a destination for materials that support oil production.
In BNSF's Southern Region, the company plans to spend approximately 700 million across nine states on track maintenance and new projects. The Southern Region includes its transcontinental high-speed freight route, with more than 3,200 kilometers of double-track track that allows customers to move freight from West Coast ports to Chicago, as well as to major rail terminals in Kansas City, Fort Worth, Denver, and St. Louis.
In the Central Region, which is primarily used for coal transportation, BNSF will invest approximately 560 million across six states.
