BNSF spending $100M in Montana

BNSF Railway will spend $100 million in Montana to maintain its infrastructure, the bulk of which will be spent in the north-central part of the state, Ross Lane, regional director of public affairs for BNSF Railway, said Friday.

The spending is part of a larger $3.4 billion infrastructure program.

BNSF track runs through 28 states, a press release announcing the overall investment plan says. The release says $2.4 billion of that will go toward maintaining BNSF's core network and related assets.

Though he would not give an exact figure, Lane said most of the $100 million for Montana will be spent maintaining rail and other infrastructure along the Milk River. Some will also go toward projects in Great Falls.

"So the entire Hi-Line of Montana is where we are putting the largest chunk of maintenance dollars," Lane said.

He said money spent on improvements in northern Montana will include 60 miles of replacement track, 122,000 new railroad ties and nearly 1100 miles of new ballast, the rock the forms the track bed on which rails are laid.

Lane said record amounts of grain have been moved in Montana this year and the $100 million spent on maintaining and upgrading the railway's infrastructure will be beneficial to customers.

Other states where BNSF will invest include $255 million for Texas; $190 million for Illinois; $175 million for Washington and $170 million for California.

The raelease says that $400 million from the overall plan will go toward expansion projects, another $400 million for equipment acquisitions and $100 million to implement positive train control, a system meant to automatically stop a train before an accident occurs.

"So it is a system of GPS and radio towers and locomotive equipment that senses where a train is at a given time, what the track speed is and can stop a train remotely should it exceed the optimized speed limit," Lane said.

The press release says BNSF spent $3.9 billion on a similar capital investment plan last year.