FORT WORTH, Texas — BNSF Railway executives have thanked customers for their patience regarding the limited embargo on carload traffic bound for California that began on June 27 and is now set to expire next month.
“Beginning Monday, Sept. 5, shipments may move into California without a permit. We recognize the embargo has led to some additional disruption to our affected customers in the short term, and we sincerely appreciate your support and patience. Thanks to your continued collaboration, we’ve been able to reduce congestion and improve network fluidity in Southern California,” Chief Marketing Officer Steve Bobb and Chief Operations Officer Matt Igoe wrote on Tuesday.
The embargo on certain carload commodities was imposed to prevent congestion from worsening during the Fourth of July holiday period when many crews mark off. BNSF has been particularly short of crews in Southern California and on the neighboring Southwest Division in Arizona and New Mexico.
Although BNSF gradually increased the number of permits to allow affected shipments to move into California, the railroad on July 27 extended the embargo into September.
“The decision to put the limited embargo in place was not one we took lightly,” Bobb and Igoe wrote. “Still, it was a step we knew we had to take in response to significant ongoing service challenges, especially in Southern California. During the past two months, BNSF team members and contractors worked around the clock to reduce the backlogs and ensure that essential commodities flowed. Last week, we were able to grant 89% of permits requested for shipments moving into California. Moving forward, we will continue working collaboratively with individual customers to manage traffic flows and maintain fluidity.”
BNSF’s performance metrics, including average train speed and terminal dwell, have been gradually improving over the past few weeks. Dwell at BNSF’s Barstow, Calif., yard remained elevated last week at 38.7 hours, although that’s an improvement over the 56-hour average dwell time when the embargo began.
“Our gains in network fluidity have enabled BNSF to reduce agricultural past dues, and are now current for fall harvest,” the executives wrote.
Meanwhile, back at the stockholders ranch, life is very good…..
Nah
One way to say “thank you” is to cut your prices for a period of time before putting them back. I wonder if that ever will happen?