News Release

BNSF's Economic Development Efforts Add Investment, Jobs in California

SAN BERNARDINO, California, September 19, 2003:

Economic development efforts of The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) were instrumental in the location of 11 new or expanded facilities, involving investment of about $43.7 million and the creation of 215 new jobs in California during the 18 months ended June 30. BNSF is a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI).

The new and expanded industries include a GM Service and Parts Operations auto parts distribution facility at Rancho Cucamonga as well as a Coors Brewing Company distribution facility at Ontario, a Quebecor, Inc., printing plant at Riverside, and an R.R. Donnelley paper distribution facility at Commerce. BNSF also serves two international container terminals opened in 2002: Hanjin Shipping's Pier T at Long Beach and Maersk Sealand's Pier 400 at the Port of Los Angeles.

"Transportation is an important consideration for any company looking to expand into new markets," says Vann Cunningham, BNSF's assistant vice president, Economic Development. "Working in partnership with state and local public and private economic development agencies, we can leverage BNSF's industry-leading service and our area's advantages to benefit communities across the BNSF system."

When GM needed a new facility to replace an automotive parts warehouse in Southern California, BNSF worked together with GM to create a compelling rate, service, and site package at a larger, more modern warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga, Cunningham points out. The new facility is expected to handle 1,275 rail carloads annually.

"The teamwork demonstrated between BNSF Railway and General Motors Service and Parts Operation was superb," says Ray Culbert, GM Manager of Forward Planning. "We appreciated the cooperative spirit that enabled us to tackle issues relating to operations and logistics efficiencies."

Due to the unique loading and unloading characteristics of paper as well as Donnelley's need to enhance its supply chain management, BNSF had to work with Donnelley Logistics (an R.R. Donnelley logistics subsidiary) to find a full-service warehousing and distribution facility in order to meet these requirements. Both the GM and Donnelley facilities began operating earlier this year.

BNSF's economic development efforts were instrumental in the location of a total of 130 new and expanded facilities along BNSF lines during 2002. The new and expanded facilities represent an investment of more than $5 billion and are expected to create more than 3,000 new jobs and 110,000 carloads of rail traffic annually.

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