BNSF Railway Begins Track Maintenance Renewal Project Between Bakersfield and Fresno

Market Wire, January, 2007

The BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) today announced that it has launched a $17.5 million track maintenance project on its main line between Bakersfield and Fresno, Calif. that will help improve the reliability and ride quality of both passenger and freight trains using the route.

To minimize the impact on customers and communities, work that could have been spread across many months will be completed in a four-week period between January 17th and February 20th across this 105-mile subdivision. This is one of the larger maintenance projects that BNSF has undertaken in such a short time frame.

According to Don Dill, General Director Line Maintenance, "This concentrated track work program allows BNSF to perform a large number of track upgrades in a compressed time. The end result will be improved track reliability, improved ride quality for Amtrak passenger trains and improved track structure to support greater velocity for freight movements between Bakersfield and Fresno."

The Bakersfield track renewal project includes improvements to 15 at-grade rail crossings, the installation of 77,150 wood crossties; eight miles of new rail; 100 miles of track resurfacing, and undercutting work (for drainage improvement) on four miles of track.

To achieve the compressed time schedule, the project requires BNSF to bring in 350 additional employees from various parts of the railroad that will be assigned to specific track and rail renewal projects across the line. BNSF expects to spend more than $700,000 in lodging and food along the route during this project.

BNSF plans to close the line and perform maintenance six hours a day.

Customers have been notified about any temporary changes in their freight schedules.

Amtrak trains may be affected by the temporary closures. For more information, please contact Amtrak at 1-800-USA-RAIL (872-7245), or visit Amtrak's website at www.Amtrak.com .

Command centers will be situated in Bakersfield, Fresno and Hanford where BNSF personnel will be stationed during the work day.

Some highway-rail grade crossings along this rail line will be closed temporarily as maintenance crews reconstruct track. In most cases, an affected crossing will only be closed a few hours on a particular day. BNSF has worked closely with all the communities to plan crossing closure schedules and identify alternate routes for traffic. A list of crossings to be closed and the dates the closures are scheduled follows:

County          Crossing                Date (subject to change)
------          --------                ------------------------
Kern County     Private Crossing        1/31 - 2/2
Kern County     7th Standard Avenue     2/1 - 2/4
Kern County     Cherry Avenue           2/7 - 2/10
Kern County     Central Avenue          2/4 - 2/6
Kern County     Poso Avenue             1/30 - 2/2
Kings County    Whitley Avenue          1/25 - 1/27
Kings County    Private Crossing        No date at this time
Kings County    Private Crossing        No date at this time
Kings County    Kansas Avenue           1/24 - 1/26
Kings County    Lansing Avenue          1/28 - 1/30
Kings County    Dover Avenue            1/22 - 1/24
Fresno County   Riverdale Avenue        1/18 - 1/20
Fresno County   Conejo Avenue           1/23 - 1/25
Fresno County   Peach Avenue            1/21 - 1/23

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI), BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest North American rail networks, with about 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is among the world's top transporters of intermodal traffic, moves more grain than any other American railroad, carries 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 is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com .

Contact: Lena Kent (909) 386-4140