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FORT
WORTH, Texas, September 28, 2000 -- The Burlington Northern and
Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) today announced that beginning
next month it will offer the rail industry's first Carload
Service Assurance Program, including Guaranteed Service, Service
Insurance and a No-Strings Option.
Matt Rose, BNSF's president and
chief operating officer, announced the program this morning at
the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Association of Rail
Shippers in Eugene, Ore. Rose said the Carload Service Assurance
Program is part of a new comprehensive service package for
carload freight moving between Vancouver, BC; Northern
California; Southern California and Arizona.
BNSF's new service for carload
customers on the I-5 Corridor – named for the Interstate
Highway it parallels -- will include the following offerings:
- Five-day service between
Vancouver and the San Francisco Bay Area;
- Five-day service between
Vancouver and the Los Angeles area; and
- Seven-day service between
Vancouver and the Phoenix area.
Carload Service Assurance Program
In select lanes,
BNSF's Guaranteed Service will provide a full money-back
guarantee of on-time delivery for carload service. Customers
will have the option to purchase the service guarantee for a
premium of 10- to 15-percent, and will be given a 100-percent
refund for each carload of freight that does not arrive at
destination on time.
Customers can utilize the Service
Insurance option for either a price premium of 5 percent per car
or an increase of 15 percent in contract volume. BNSF will
provide cash-back allowances of between 10 and 15 percent for
each carload of freight that does not arrive on time under this
option.
The No-Strings Option offers
customers an opportunity to move freight via the new BNSF I-5
services without a transportation contract, with no time or
volume commitments, at no extra cost.
"Today's announcement
reinforces our commitment to meeting customers'
expectations," Rose said. "The Carload Service
Assurance Program clearly demonstrates our confidence in our
ability to deliver a consistent and reliable carload
transportation product in the I-5 Corridor."
Headquartered in Fort Worth, BNSF
operates one of the largest rail networks in North America, with
33,500 route miles of track covering 28 states and two Canadian
provinces. The company serves more of North America's
timber-producing regions than any other railroad.
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