I work occasionally in Galesburg,Il and have heard from wives of BNSF employees that T&E guys were being laid off in droves (supposedly because of BNSF poor financial shape AND the eternal jam-job that occurs in the BN yards) OTOH, a friend e-mailed me this... very interesting http://www.ble.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=15084 so, is BNSF teetering on the edge of bankruptcy or one of the best financial shape class I's in the U.S.??? perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle p.s. isn't it funny that wal-mart figures into this, despite their "buy american" campaign?? corporate integrity.. kinda like a jumbo shrimp or a small crowd.... [ January 03, 2006, 09:51 AM: Message edited by: ednsfan ]
My wife and I just drove thousands of miles to visit family for Christmas. Part of the drive was from just north of Los Angeles across the Mojave desert through Barstow to Needles, and Kingman, AZ. There were so many BNSF trains running across that desert that I stopped trying to count them. After returning across the desert with the same results, we headed up the San Joaquin valley in CA and saw maybe TWO UP trains in hundreds of miles. Quite a difference. From what I saw, BNSF is sure healthy in the west.
Many months ago, I spoke with a person who studies financial stuff. He'd looked at BNSF. Didn't care for their debt load. Whether he meant the $$ amount? Or how it was structured? Nor did he care for their operating ratio. But I don't follow that stuff. So don't know if it's changed? If he was correct in analysis? However, he's not the only skeptic I have heard, or read. A neighbor is a financial advisor or investment counsel. Whatever they call them. He says he tells his customers NOT to invest in railroads..... I've no clue who's right or wrong. The whole thing seems rather confusing. Boxcab E50
The article that is linked above is indeed very interesting. It seems like it would be better for BNSF to use that $2 billion in cash to reduce some of it's debt load or reinvest it into capital improvements for both capacity and service. It comes as no surprise to see WalMart being a player. Because of it's size, WalMart is a formidable player in the business world and they have no problem pointing that out when then want something. Also, that 30% labor saving gained by changing to a port in Mexico would not translate into a 30% savings at the customer level.
I just reviewed BNSF 10-Q 3rd Quarter Report for 2005. BNSF is in no way on the edge of bankruptcy. Revenue for Q3 was 3.3 Billion with a net income to 414 Million after taxes. Their balance sheet is very strong with assets of 30 Billion. Also BNSF has the highest net income of all the Class I railroads for 2005 reported so far for Q1, Q2, & Q3 combined. BNSF will report its fourth-quarter and year-end 2005 earnings on January 24, 2006. Presentation material will be available on BNSF's Web site at http://www.bnsf.com under the "Investors" link. By the numbers, BNSF is a great railroad! Swafford
We had a Saftey Instructor in, (he teaches at the OK. campus) and said that BNSF was hiring any one who could pass the drug test. He tried to recruit all our younger members(G) ABQ to Willams is pushing 100+ trains a day Gunns
