News Release

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Reports Record All-Time Quarterly Revenue and EPS

FORT WORTH, Texas, October 25, 2005:

• Record quarterly earnings of $1.09 per diluted share.
• Freight revenues increased 18 percent compared with the same 2004 period to a record of $3.22 billion.
• Record quarterly operating income of $778 million.
• Quarterly operating ratio continued to decrease to 75.8 percent.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF) (NYSE: BNI) today reported record quarterly earnings of $1.09 per diluted share. Third-quarter 2004 diluted earnings per share were $0.01, which included a net of tax charge of $288 million, or $0.76 per diluted share to reflect changes in BNSF’s estimate of asbestos and environmental liabilities.

"Demand for rail transportation continues to outpace the rest of the economy," said Matthew K. Rose, BNSF Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. "BNSF continues to operate a fluid rail network and, as a result, we have recorded our fourteenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year volume increases."

Third-quarter 2005 freight revenues increased $480 million, or 18 percent, to a quarterly record of $3.22 billion compared with 2004 third-quarter freight revenues of $2.74 billion related to a combination of volume, fuel surcharges, and price increases. Revenue for the third-quarter of 2005 included fuel surcharges of $296 million compared with $95 million in the third-quarter of 2004.

BNSF experienced revenue increases in all four of the Company’s business groups during the third quarter. Consumer Products revenues increased $234 million, or 21 percent, to $1,331 million, largely from strong volume increases across most of the business sectors. Industrial Products revenues increased $109 million, or 17 percent, to $743 million. Agricultural Products revenues were up $104 million, or 25 percent, to $522 million, due largely to strong exports through the Gulf and Pacific Northwest ports. Coal revenues rose by $33 million, or 6 percent, to $622 million.

Operating expenses for the third-quarter of 2005 were $2.54 billion. This compares with third-quarter 2004 operating expenses of $2.69 billion, which included a pre-tax charge of $465 million. Third-quarter 2005 operating expenses reflect a 5-percent increase in gross ton-miles and a 45-percent increase in fuel prices after hedge benefit compared to the prior-year quarter. Additionally, BNSF’s quarterly operating ratio continued to decrease to 75.8 percent.

BNSF’s subsidiary, BNSF Railway Company, operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with about 32,000 route miles covering 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 coal to generate about ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com.

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