Agricultural Products Network Update for Friday, October 11, 2024
OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE
Our network operating teams are focused on improving service performance following a challenging start to October. On Saturday, a wildfire burned across our right-of-way near Ray, North Dakota, approximately 91 miles west of Minot, impacting both main tracks on this busy portion of our Northern Transcon. Service was restored to both tracks by Sunday evening, and traffic flows have since normalized. As reported, at the beginning of last week, an incident on our Southern Transon closed the main track on our Needles Subdivision near Siberia, California. BNSF teams and resources were immediately deployed to the scene and were able to restore service on the impacted track within approximately 17 hours.
The cumulative impacts from these incidents were reflected in our overall car velocity, which was lower than last week, and the average level reported for September. Terminal dwell improved slightly from last week but increased over 5% from the previous month. Our local service compliance measure averaged nearly 90% for the week, improving slightly from the previous week. Weekly volumes were relatively flat compared to the prior week, nearly 200,000 units, reflecting strong intermodal volumes. September was our best month on record for on-dock rail loadings in Southern California, beating our previous record set in August.
SERVICE EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
BNSF is working with eastern carriers to help manage customer pipelines as the area recovers from Hurricane Milton, but customers with shipments destined for locations in Florida should expect continued delays.
For much of the BNSF network, favorable weather for early October is anticipated with no major storm systems in the forecast during the next several days.
As always, we thank you for your business and appreciate the opportunity to serve as your transportation service provider. We welcome your feedback and questions.