News Release

BNSF Makes Loading Expertise Available to Freight Shippers Worldwide

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 20, 2003:

High-quality, low-cost, safe solutions for the handling, storage, securement and transportation of cargo, provided as part of its overall service to rail customers by The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF), are now available to freight shippers worldwide.

Known as LARS (Load and Ride Solutions) Global, BNSF offers the expertise of its cargo handling and security professionals -- who have more than 400 years' combined experience in providing solutions to prevent cargo damage, theft and vandalism -- to shippers who use any mode of transportation and any freight transportation provider.

"BNSF's freight loss and damage ratio has dropped by more than 50 percent since 1995," says Chuck Law, BNSF's Director, LARS Marketing and Consulting. "We have been providing answers to customer cargo damage and security issues for decades. Our seasoned professionals specialize in relevant solutions that take full advantage of a changing worldwide transportation industry."

LARS Global offers a variety of cargo transportation solutions designed to eliminate transportation damage. Services include a total evaluation of each client's product as it moves through the transportation cycle and recommendations on such issues as packaging, warehouse storage, loading, blocking and bracing, transportation ride quality, unloading and destination storage and delivery.

Clients receive a written summary of loading, packaging, security and transportation recommendations. The summary includes computer generated load plans and drawings. In conjunction with its recommendations, LARS Global provides detailed training for all client personnel involved in the handling and transportation process.

Available services include loading and preparation, development of loading diagrams; cargo handling and ride quality; and cargo protection/security solutions. More information is available on the LARS Global website at http://www.larsglobal.com/ or by phone toll-free at (866)755-0730.

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with 32,500 route miles covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com. 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 coal to generate about 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