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A BNSF locomotive (GE ES44C4) leading a freight train is stopped in Atlanta on Nov. 28, 2014. (Photo by Todd DeFeo)

Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF operates one of the largest rail networks in North America, with 33,000 route miles of track covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces.

The railway was formed on Dec. 31, 1996, when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad. Until Jan. 24, 2005, the railroad was known as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, but today is known as BNSF Railway.

BNSF moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America’s largest grain-hauling railroad, transports the mineral components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough coal to generate more than 10 percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

BNSF is a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., which was formed on Sept. 22, 1995, after a merger of Burlington Northern Inc. and Santa Fe Pacific Corp.

In 2010, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. acquired BNSF.

BNSF Headlines

BNSF Facts & Figures

Here are some facts and figures about BNSF (numbers are estimated):

  • Route Miles: 32,000
  • Number of Employees: 40,000
  • Locomotives: 6,700
  • Freight Cars on System: 220,000

BNSF Reporting Marks

Railroads have many reporting marks, identification assigned by the American Association of Railroads. BNSF reporting marks include:

  • BNSF
  • BNFE
  • BNFT

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Before you copy and paste this information to your website, please keep in mind this research took a lot of effort. Appreciate it. Learn from it. But do not plagiarize it. Yes, if you think we might be talking to you, we are.