STB Approves BNSF Request to Purchase 2.25 Miles of UP Line
On May 16, 2000, The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) filed a petition for an exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502 from the prior approval requirements of 49 U.S.C. 11323-25 to purchase from Union Pacific Railroad Company (UP), and to operate, a 2.25-mile segment of rail line between milepost 533 in Orin, WY, and milepost 530.75 in Orin Junction, WY, and UP's undivided one-half ownership interest in a 3.06-mile segment of rail line between milepost 530.75 and milepost 527.69 in Fisher, WY, a total of 5.31 miles.

BackGround
Since August 1999, BNSF has transported coal in unit train service from a loadout at Cordero Junction, WY, approximately 104 miles north of Orin Junction, to a coal-fired electrical power plant at Dave, WY (the Dave Johnson Plant), approximately 37 miles northwest of Orin. BNSF, which serves both the origin and destination, must follow a circuitous route around UP's intervening Orin-Orin Junction line segment because BNSF has no operating rights there.

BNSF states that the proposed transaction will improve operational efficiency in the handling of coal trains to and from the Dave Johnson Plant by allowing BNSF to operate directly to and from that location without the current need to bypass the Orin-Orin Junction line segment.

BNSF also states that UP has had no rail operations over the line segments since October 1998, and that there are no rail-served customers at any point along the involved 5.31-mile line. BNSF currently operates an average of 27 trains per day (in both directions) between Fisher and Orin Junction, and the transaction will not result in any increase in rail traffic on that line segment. There are currently no rail operations on the Orin-Orin Junction line segment, and following track rehabilitation there, BNSF plans to operate a total of two trains per day (one in each direction). The proposed acquisition will not extend BNSF service into any markets or regions it does not already serve, nor will it remove UP from any of its existing markets. Both carriers will continue to serve the same regions and markets that they do today.