News Release

BNSF Honors Fresno Employee for Excellence in Safety

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 11, 2005:

BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) today announced that it named Gary Watkins, BNSF locomotive engineer in Fresno, Calif., one of its six Safety Employees of the Year Award.

Watkins received this award on April 4, 2005 at a special ceremony in Fort Worth because of this commitment to safety in his workplace. As co-chairman of BNSF’s Fresno Site Safety Team, Watkins sets the focus of each safety marathon, providing employees with a clear understanding of work procedures, rule changes and compliance issues. Additionally, he serves as an engineer instructor to trainees before and after formal training at BNSF’s Technical Training Center in Overland Park, Kansas.

Watins is also the legislative safety representative for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Local; and gives presentations documenting high-risk conditions to the Safety Assurance and Compliance Program. Watkins volunteers for many community activities, including assisting with armed forces veterans, American Heart Association, Leukemia and Lymphoma Association and Alzheimer’s Society. Watkins has been with BNSF since June 1973 and resides in Clovis, Calif.

"Ensuring safety for our employees, our customers and the communities we serve is the number one priority at BNSF," says Matt Rose, BNSF chairman, president and CEO. "We are proud to honor our employees who have demonstrated safe operating practices and help us to achieve our vision of operating free of accidents and injuries."

The BNSF Safety Employees of the Year for 2004 are Thomas Anderson, Havre, Mont.; Gary Watkins, Fresno, Calif.; Jerry Garton, Douglas, Wyo.; Robert Johnson, Northtown, Minn.; William Bell, Alliance, Neb.; and Lonny Johnson, Grand Rapids, Minn..

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI), BNSF Railway operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. 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 low-sulphur coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF Railway is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.

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