BNSF News

Railroad Retirement System: Did You Know?

2010-05-10

Note: The Railroad Retirement system celebrates 75 years in 2010. BNSF News is running a series of articles about the system and how it has changed since its inception. For previous articles, see the BNSF News archives found on the Communications subtab of employee.bnsf.com.

Although a version of the Railroad Retirement system was introduced in the late 1800s, the system as it exists today is different from its early days.

For example, numerous amendments after the Railroad Retirement Act of 1937 increased benefits and added benefits for dependents, among other changes.

Amendments enacted in 1946 and 1951 added survivor and spouse benefits, liberalized disability benefit requirements and established jurisdictional coordination with the Social Security Administration.

In addition, a financial interchange was established between the two systems to equitably apportion the costs of benefits and taxes based on rail service. This financial interchange, which ensures that the Social Security trust funds neither gain nor lose from the existence of the Railroad Retirement system, became an integral source of Railroad Retirement funding in subsequent decades. In 1965, the financial interchange served as an operating vehicle through which the Medicare program was extended to Railroad Retirement beneficiaries.

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Phone: (817) 352-1000

For more information on the company and its transportation solutions, visit the BNSF Web site at www.bnsf.com