BNSF has added a fifth railroad to its Shortline Select program—the goal of which is to “drive growth by improving service performance with participating short lines through enhanced communication, seamless movement tracking, data transparency, [and] faster equipment turns/reduced dwell.”
Red River Valley & Western Railroad (RRVW), Railway Age’s 1997 Regional Railroad of the Year, is the newest program participant, BNSF reported via social media on April 4. RRVW operates more than 500 miles of track, primarily in the southeast quarter of North Dakota and as far north as Maddock, N.Dak. (see map below). It serves more than 70 customers, including 13 grain shuttle facilities, 33 grain elevators, and a number of processors.
Clik here to view.
The Shortline Select program, which launched last September, allows small roads “to share our enduring commitment to growth and service by providing expanded opportunities for customers to reach an even broader consumer base,” according to BNSF, which noted that the program “also combines the benefit of short line customized service with our vast network reach.”
The first small road to join was Genesee & Wyoming’s (G&W) 339-mile Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway (AGR), which interchanges with BNSF at Amory, Miss. BNSF reported last fall that transload providers on AGR may be included in its Premier Transload Program, a network of more than 400 transloaders across its 32,500-mile system spanning 28 states and three Canadian provinces; and selected locations on AGR may be eligible for the BNSF Certified Site designation, which is described as “an inventory of available, rail-ready industrial sites that are pre-approved for development.”
Three additional roads were added to the program last year: Burlington Junction Railway (BJRY), which links with the Class I at Quincy, Montgomery, Rochelle, and Wilmington, Ill., and Burlington, Mt. Pleasant, and Ottumwa, Iowa; G&W’s Portland & Western Railroad (PNWR), which connects with BNSF at Vancouver, Wash., and Portland, Ore.; and TNW Corporation’s Texas Northwestern Railrway, which links with BNSF in the Texas Panhandle (TXNW is based in Sunray, Tex.).
“We look forward to working with RRVW to enhance our service performance together,” BNSF reported.
The post BNSF Grows ‘Shortline Select’ Program appeared first on Railway Age.
