Intermodal Network Update for Friday, March 28, 2025

OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
BNSF operating teams are focused on maintaining positive performance momentum following several service interruptions caused by high wind events across the Southwest and Southern Plains last week. Our investments to strengthen the network and proactively mitigate the impacts of severe weather events mean we are able to restore service levels more quickly. To learn more about the investments we have made over the years and continue to make, check out our Rail Talk corporate blog here.

Overall, average car velocity has increased compared to both the previous week and the previous month, and terminal dwell time has decreased by 0.3% compared to February. Our local service compliance measure, which reflects our timeliness in handling carload freight, remains steady at nearly 90%.
 
 

Operations are resuming at our classification (hump) yard in Tulsa, Oklahoma, following a 48-hour outage during which BNSF crews upgraded various mechanisms to improve efficiency and terminal throughput, including the addition of a new scale and replacement of two retarders which safely control the speed at which the cars travel into their designated destination tracks. We also installed upgraded yard-controlled power switches and leveraged this outage to complete track maintenance repairs. Trains were temporarily rerouted and sorted offsite to accommodate the project window.
 
 

Improvement efforts at our hump yard in Tulsa, Oklahoma – March 2025
 
INTERMODAL UPDATE
The Southern Transcon has quickly recovered from the challenges we faced last week. As communicated, we experienced service interruptions primarily driven by extremely strong winds above 75 mph. BNSF teams worked around the clock, leveraging prepositioned locomotives and recent improvements in crew and resource allocation. These efforts, combined with our weather planning technology and wind fence investments, facilitated a rapid recovery.

Fluidity into our Hobart facility in Los Angeles, California and freight flows into the greater Chicago area have normalized. We are ending this week with improved velocity across the Southern Transcon, with a 13.5% increase from the previous week, stabilizing intermodal transit performance levels. Particularly in our Kansas Division and Southwest Division across Arizona and New Mexico — where we experienced the most significant wind impacts—velocity has increased by 25% and 27.5%, respectively.
  
SERVICE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
Favorable operating conditions are expected across most of the network in the coming week. However, we are monitoring a storm system that is bringing heavy rain to the Gulf Coast regions of Texas and Louisiana today and an active weather pattern moving through the Southern Plains on Saturday. 
 
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