News Release

BNSF Closes 2,000th Grade Crossing As Part of Grade Crossing Safety Program

FORT WORTH, Texas, January 19, 2004:

The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) announced that, in December 2003, it closed its 2,000^th highway-rail grade crossing since the beginning of year 2000. During the four-year period from 2000 to 2003, BNSF closed six percent of its grade crossings, in a cooperative effort with landowners and communities along its route to identify unnecessary or redundant grade crossings. BNSF currently has approximately 30,000 at-grade crossings across its 32,500-mile rail network. BNSF is a subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI).

"There's no question that eliminating an unnecessary or redundant crossing can improve safety," says Greg Stengem, BNSF's vice president, Safety, Training and Operations Support. "In some cases, when we can close a crossing, motorists are redirected to an adjacent grade crossing with a heightened level of grade crossing warning, such as gates and warning lights. With every grade crossing eliminated, we're also able to reduce the number of train whistles that must be sounded in the community." The aggressive program will continue in 2004, with a target of more than 400 grade crossing closures for the year.

"We commend BNSF's long-term commitment to the tough work of closing highway-rail crossings," says Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Administrator Allan Rutter.  "These successful efforts positively demonstrate

that crossing closure is a viable option, one deserving full consideration by all communities seeking to address highway-rail crossing safety."

The grade crossing closure initiative is part of BNSF’s grade crossing safety program, which has the goal of reducing grade crossing collisions, injuries and fatalities. That program also includes community education, enhanced crossing technology, crossing resurfacing, vegetation control, installation of warning devices, and track and signal inspection and maintenance.

BNSF has one of the lowest highway-railroad grade crossing collision rates in the rail industry. From 2000 to 2003, grade crossing collisions on BNSF track declined 26 percent, decreasing from 568 collisions in 2000 to 422 in 2003. From 2002 to 2003, the number of grade crossing collisions on BNSF track was reduced by 13 percent, according to statistics reported to the FRA.

"It's clear that our grade crossing closure program has made a difference," adds Greg Fox, BNSF's vice president, Engineering. "We want to thank the many state and local agencies, as well as landowners, who have assisted with this important safety initiative." Of the 2,000 crossings closed, approximately 70 percent were private crossings closed with the cooperation of private landowners. The other 30 percent were public crossings closed in cooperation with local communities.

Through its subsidiary, The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, BNSF operates one of the largest rail networks in North America, with 32,500 route miles of track 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 moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America's largest grain-hauling railroad, transports the mineral components of many of the products we depend on daily, 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