Environment

Addressing greenhouse-gas emissions is a high priority for BNSF. Internal and external stakeholders identified and prioritized the most important sustainability issues, and reducing carbon emissions topped the list.

1. Carbon Emission Reduction
2. Human Capital Development
3. Diversity and Inclusion
4. Expansion Permitting
5. Innovation
6. Sustainable Operations
7. Critical Incident Risk Management
8. Labor Management

Weather-Related Service Interruptions

Water & Flooding
The most common concern is around water and flooding. Many railroad bridges have been around for nearly a century or more, largely without issue. Increased impervious surfaces (urbanization) reduce water infiltration into the ground, sending even more surface water to the railroad faster with more intensity. We are also experiencing added impacts by communities and developers using our ditches for drainage. Additionally, development on hillsides above tracks can increase landslide and mudslide risks with water irrigation.

We continue to work diligently on public and agency coordination to seek mutually beneficial solutions. For example, when we renew bridges, we complete hydraulic analyses each time to estimate the flood impacts. In the cases where development has increased runoff intensity, we can have larger bridges, bigger culverts and/or raise track elevation.

Wildfires
BNSF has had wildfire response plans and equipment to protect our critical infrastructure for many years, but this program has been expanded significantly due to the increase in wildfire risk. Today we have more than 50 wildfire response tank cars and infrastructure protection trailers, and we have developed Infrastructure Wildfire Protection plans for BNSF’s critical bridges, tunnels and snowsheds.

Reducing Our Customers’ Carbon Emissions

Sustainability has become a larger contributing factor to customers’ supply chain decisions, with many setting net zero carbon targets that include supply chain emissions. Rail is the most fuel-efficient mode of surface transportation. By using rail to transport goods, our customers can reduce their supply chain emissions while remaining competitive in the market.

Railroads handle 40 percent of the nation’s long-distance freight volume, yet account for only 0.5 percent of total U.S. GHG emissions and only 1.9 percent of the transportation related emission sources, according to the U.S. EPA. According to the AAR, if 25 percent of truck traffic moving at least 750 miles shifted to rail, annual GHG emissions would fall by 13.6 million tons.

Collaborating with Customers to Promote Sustainability

Sustainable Freight Leadership Council (SFLC)
We work with customers on sustainable innovation end markets through our Sustainable Freight Leadership Council (SFLC). The SFLC brings together thought leaders from several industries to build insights and alignment on shared actions to reduce carbon emissions and create more sustainable supply chains.

2023 SFLC members include:

Launching a Joint Intermodal Service

In 2023, we launched Quantum, a J.B. Hunt and BNSF service for intermodal. Quantum allows customers with service-sensitive freight to benefit from the cost savings of intermodal transport, while reducing their carbon footprints. This premium service delivers speeds up to a full day faster than standard intermodal shipments.

Co-Locating BNSF & Customers for Efficient, Convenient Services

Streamlined Supply Chain Solutions
BNSF Logistics Parks are BNSF-owned facilities anchored by a BNSF intermodal hub and surrounded by distribution centers to provide streamlined supply chain solutions for intermodal customers. By providing the setup for customers to operate in close quarters with us, we optimize the operating footprint and limit the transportation emissions required between intermodal and distribution activities.

Resources & Emissions Reductions
Co-locating at these facilities gives customers direct access to BNSF services and reduces the number of truck miles driven on public roads.

Efficiency Advantages
Our customers can enjoy the operational and logistical efficiency advantages of co-locating at our Logistics Parks and Logistics Centers.

Investing in Our Rail to Decarbonize America’s Supply Chain
We invest directly in the development of new facilities and sites in under-serviced, strategic, and primarily end-user markets to provide customers a low-carbon solution for moving their carloads. BNSF Logistics Centers serve customers with direct-rail service in multi-customer, multi-commodity business parks. We are taking strides to meet customers where they need efficient transportation solutions most.

Logistics Parks and Intermodal Hubs

Logistics Centers

Reducing Operational Emissions & Improving Efficiencies at Our Intermodal Facilities

With 27 facilities in 14 states, We boast the industry’s largest network of intermodal hubs, connecting consumer goods to most U.S. markets. In 2023 4.5 million intermodal shipments were transported on our rail lines instead of on the nation’s congested highways.

We continuously look for ways to increase efficiency and reduce our operational carbon footprint with the use of leading-edge equipment and technology at our intermodal hubs.

BNSF intermodal facilities utilize the following equipment and technology to support reduced carbon emissions:

• Wide-span electric cranes that produce zero emissions and reduce the number of diesel-powered hostlers required.
• Battery-electric hostlers, forklifts and drayage trucks.
• Real time Inventory: A combination of data sources is used to simultaneously verify and update inventory operating systems for the railroad, improving customer experience and providing a foundation for more accurate capacity planning in the future.
• Automated yard checks that utilize image analytics and machine learning.
• Remote cranes: “Wireless” remote cranes operate at Logistics Park Chicago (LPC). This remote capability improves productivity and safety.
• Automated Gate Systems (AGS) to speed entry and reduce truck idling on entering intermodal facilities.
• Load Plan Optimization: By using an AI-based algorithm that creates a load plan for an outbound train in seconds, we can ensure that the right containers and trailers are located where they need to be on the production tracks, minimizing the overall distance our hostler drivers need to travel, ultimately improving hostler utilization, reducing fuel consumption and improving track turn times.

A BIG New Development

We have begun development of the 4,500-acre Barstow International Gateway (BIG). BIG will be a uniquely integrated operation, consisting of a rail yard, intermodal facility and warehouses for transloading freight from international containers to domestic carriers. The first of its kind, the facility will allow direct transfer of containers from ships at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to trains headed to our mainline. By putting freight directly onto rail from Southern California ports, we will aid in reducing congestion, local emissions, and improving supply chain and transportation network fluidity and efficiency. BIG has the potential to meaningfully reduce carbon emissions in the ports and within the corridor between the coast and the inland facility while creating thousands of jobs. At the facility, containers will be processed using zero- and near-zero emission cargo-handling equipment. Supporting a sustainable transportation network and supply chain along with reducing carbon emissions in our operations are key initiatives in the BIG development.

Our Commitment to Sustainable Development

BNSF is focused on sustainable development with respect to the environment, the communities in which we live and operate, and our business. In 2023, BNSF executed a deep dive into our development project processes and established a company-specific playbook with a focus on sustainable development and communities, that encompasses the entire lifespan of a project, from site selection, design and construction to operation and maintenance. This new tool provides guidance to engineering project managers by reinforcing current processes with the integration of sustainability measures.

We measure sustainable development by the project’s impact on and by (1) the community, (2) project management, (3) efficient resource allocation, (4) natural world conservation, and (5) climate and resiliency. The vision for our playbook is for BNSF project owners and teams to develop sites that provide business value while minimizing environmental impacts and improving community engagement.

Investing in Remediation

We actively address environmental impacts at legacy sites – locations where predecessor railroads and others may have conducted operations for up to a century. In the last decade, we have rehabilitated approximately 100 sites and invested approximately $230 million toward remediation efforts.