Posted on 09/03/2005 9:36:10 AM PDT by Jolly Green
A contribution of $1 million to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina was announced today by BNSF Railway Company, along with an offer to the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to provide railroad transportation in support of hurricane relief and recovery efforts. The contribution by the railway, a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI), will be made to the American Red Cross via the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation.
"All of America grieves at the unfolding tragedy and our Company and employees are anxious to help. We understand there are matters more immediate than transportation and logistics issues, but BNSF will stand ready to help when the time comes [to stage relief efforts]," Matthew K. Rose, BNSF Chairman, President and CEO, said in a letter to the three governors.
BNSF’s line into the New Orleans area from the west was opened for service at 6 p.m. Central time Sept. 1, when repairs to the railway’s bridge over Bayou Boeuf at Morgan City, La. were completed. The bridge had been damaged when it was struck by a barge during the night of Aug. 28-29.
BNSF operations do not reach all of the coastal regions, but BNSF connects to railroad partners over which it can reach impacted areas. Rose told the governors BNSF will consider reasonable requests for use of equipment and movement of materials over the combined freight railroads’ network to assist in the recovery.
The letter noted that there are continuing discussions between the Association of American Railroads member railroads, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Federal Railroad Administration, Amtrak and others to address a coordinated response by the nation’s freight railroads. BNSF also said it will register its willingness to assist with transportation services on the Department of Homeland Security’s Web site.
"Employees of BNSF join me in offering our prayers for the victims of the hurricane and our hopeful intentions for the future of the stricken areas," Rose’s letter to the governors concludes. "Again, the BNSF Railway stands ready to help."
BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. The railway is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, transports the components of many of the products we depend on daily, and hauls enough low-sulphur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF Railway is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.
BNSF Headquarters
BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000
BNSF is also matching employee donations to the United Way earmarked for Katrina dollar for dollar.
Great Company and a great company to work for.
You bet they are.
BNSF has a mainline thru my little town.
The best corporate citizen you could ever wish for.
Hats off and cudos to Matt Rose ETAL
And for those interested they are hiring at this time. Same website www.bnsf.com.
Alas, to be young again.
If I wasnt 60+ would hire out in a heartbeat.
Upon seeing the pix of the rail yard/port, we wondered if they could take the railcars and rebuild the dam/levee with them using Sikorsky's?
Or melt them down to make new rails? New cars? Or temp housing like the Boxcar Children (which my son hates that series of books).
I've hired on with the Fort Worth and Denver Rwy in 1981, so I will have been with the BNSF for 24 years in October. I work in the headquarters train dispatching offices.
I will have my thirty in next March. I am a locomotive engr. terminal Sterling, CO.. I take it you are a dispatcher? I get along well with most of em.
I'm on the disp floor a lot, taking care of their CTWC and CTC computers.
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