BNSF pumps millions into Montana rails

BNSF Railway plans to invest about $115 million this year on maintenance and rail capacity expansion projects in Montana. Work is already underway in the Whitefish and Glacier National Park corridor.

The Montana investment is part of BNSF’s record 2013 national capital commitment of $4.3 billion.

The railway company is planning for more than 2,300 miles of track surfacing and undercutting work, the replacement of nearly 100 miles of rail and about 310,000 ties, as well as signal upgrades for federally mandated positive train control.

Locally, 34,000 ties will be installed on the Kootenai River subdivision, and 150,000 feet of new rail will be put down.

Starting this week, crews will be undercutting 25 miles of rail starting at Coram, and “super surfacing” 120 miles.

BNSF will expand capacity in Montana by constructing three new staging tracks about three miles east of Glasgow. Machine vision technology will be added at Miles City to help detect damaged equipment as a safety precaution.

About $1 billion will be spent nationally on locomotive, freight car and other equipment acquisitions, many of which will serve Montana.

“BNSF’s capital investments in Montana will help ensure our network is prepared for growing demand for freight rail,” said Matthew Rose, BNSF chief executive officer. “We are focused on investing to meet our customers’ expectations and on expanding capacity where growth is occurring. Given the importance of a low cost supply chain to the U.S. economy, our privately funded rail infrastructure is well positioned to help all Montana industries compete in global markets.”

The rail company is expected to hire about 260 employees in Montana this year, spokesman Matt Jones said. Some of those workers will be in Whitefish.

New hires are due to growth and attrition.

There are currently 220 BNSF Railway employees based in Whitefish, with 2,200 total in Montana.