Coal Network Update for Friday, April 11, 2025

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
BNSF has made significant progress in improving service performance following the recent flooding in the Midwest. The last subdivision affected by the severe flooding that began last week—the River Subdivision between St. Louis, Missouri, and Memphis, Tennessee—reopened this afternoon. Additionally, the remaining flood-related embargoes have been canceled.

The flooding had a considerable impact on approximately 800 miles of track across five subdivisions in Arkansas and Missouri, with some areas receiving between 10 and 20 inches of rain over a five-day period. As the weather improved and waters receded, BNSF teams swiftly mobilized pre-positioned resources, which included nine belt/slot rock trains carrying ballast (the primary material used for track bed), 36 dump trucks, 10 excavators, five cranes, a track lifter, 200 generators, 50,000 tons of rock, and various other earth-moving equipment.

 
BNSF crews make repairs following flood damage on the River Subdivision. – April 9, 2025

Extensive restoration efforts have been underway throughout the past week, with BNSF engineering teams and contractors addressing over two dozen washouts, repairing many miles of track, and rebuilding two bridges. With all main lines on the railroad now in service and no flood-related outages affecting operations, we will be clearing backlogs and anticipate improving performance over the next week.

Overall car velocity has decreased slightly from the previous week but remains nearly five percent higher than the average levels in March. Terminal dwell time is slightly elevated but is relatively consistent with last month's average. Local service is performing well, trending over 91%, more than two percent higher than the previous month.

SERVICE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Favorable operating conditions are expected across most of the network moving into next week. BNSF teams are monitoring an active weather pattern that is bringing gusty winds to parts of the Northern Plains and will respond as quickly as possible to any service disruptions. 
 
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