BNSF RAILWAY:
COMMITTED TO SAFETY
BNSF has a broad-based,
multi-level risk reduction
program to reduce incident
risk on our railroad. This
program focuses on
prevention, mitigation, and
response and is designed to
ensure that all commodities
are handled safely and
damage-free. We maintain
and improve safety through:
Learn more
about
safety at
BNSF
BNSF RAILWAY IS A LEADER
IN RAILROAD SAFETY, and
we recognize a safe and
secure rail network is not only
important to communities,
but it is essential to our
nation’s future.
Rail is the safest way to
transport goods over land
and keeps getting safer. The
rate of train accidents has
decreased by 28% since
2000, and accident rates
involving hazardous material
have decreased by 78%.
CAPITAL INVESTMENT
Capital investments help us operate a safe and reliable network as well as
anticipate the needs of our customers. BNSF has invested $40 billion in our
private freight network in the past decade.
EMPLOYEE TRAINING
Employees are trained based on technical rules, rail industry and federal
regulations, and on BNSF-specific initiatives developed by our experts.
GRADE CROSSINGS
Our efforts to improve safety at highway-rail grade crossings include
community education and awareness campaigns, train crew education and
testing, the deployment of new safety technology and crossing closures.
COMPREHENSIVE INSPECTIONS
BNSF rigorously and regularly inspects all aspects of our network, including our
locomotives, track, railcars, rail and bridges. We also conduct weather-event
inspections.
SAFETY-ENHANCING TECHNOLOGY
BNSF develops and utilizes safety-enhancing technology to keep our employees
and our communities safe, including Machine Vision Systems (MVS),
autonomous track measurement systems, ground-penetrating radar, and high-
definition cameras and accelerometers.
POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL (PTC)
PTC is a safety system that utilizes global positioning data to monitor train
movement, providing warnings to crews, enforcing speed limits and stopping
trains when certain conditions arise, such as a switch left in the wrong position.
94% of freight moving on our network is protected by PTC.
HAZMAT RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES
! BNSF offers free railroad hazmat response training to local emergency
responders. Our BNSFHAZMAT.com website provides commodity flow
information, training materials and response plans for emergency responders
and emergency managers.