News Release

BNSF Named Premier Partner by American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

FORT WORTH, Texas, September 3, 2002:

The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) today announced that for the fifth consecutive year, it has been named a Premier Partner by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. To date, BNSF is the only supplier that has received this recognition five years in a row.

Established in 1998, the Premier Partner award recognizes companies who have provided outstanding service to American Honda Motor Co., Inc. Since the award’s inception, BNSF is one of only 15 companies honored as Premier Partners each year. BNSF was presented the award by American Honda Motor Co., Inc. President, Mr. Koichi Amemiya at a luncheon held August 29 in Torrance, CA.

“It is a great honor to be named a Premier Partner for the fifth consecutive year,” says Ricci Gardner, vice president, BNSF Automotive. “As Honda's success has grown in the United States, we've been able to grow our partnership with them. This is something we're very proud of."

Headquartered in Fort Worth, 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. Moving more than 2 million new vehicles annually, BNSF hauls one out of every eight new cars or trucks sold in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a wide variety of customer transactions. The railway moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America’s largest grain-hauling railroad, and hauls enough coal to generate more than 10 percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

BNSF Headquarters
BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000