Class I Briefs: BNSF, UP

The first BNSF grain shuttle leaving Minnesota for the Pacific Northwest, September 2023. (Caption and Photograph Courtesy of BNSF)

BNSF provides an operating performance update for September. Also, Union Pacific (UP) Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer L. Hamann joins the Board of Directors at Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Steel Dynamics, Inc.

BNSF

BNSF on Sept. 15 issued an operating performance update for customers on its website. The Class I’s operating teams responded to a Sept. 14 derailment on the Panhandle Subdivision, near Wellington, Kans., which is approximately 34 miles southwest of Wichita. While both main lines reopened Sept. 15, BNSF said customers “may expect lingering delays as the affected signal infrastructure undergoes repair and traffic continues to normalize.”

According to the railroad, crews remain focused on “maintaining improved service performance” as trains begin moving the fall harvest and BNSF prepares for peak intermodal shipping season. Its teams have positioned operational resources in critical locations, are prepositioning snow removal equipment at facilities, and completing all main line maintenance on crucial routes, the railroad said. 

For the first full week of September, BNSF reported experiencing its best railcar velocity in the past 12 months with a weekly average of 197.4 miles per day (see table above). In the most recent two weeks, the railroad had four days where average railcar velocity was above the 200-mile-per-day mark. Additionally, terminal dwell was down, BNSF reported, and is performing better than August 2023. The local service metric, which reflects the railroad’s effectiveness in handling carloads, was down slightly from the prior week but up slightly from the prior month, according to the railroad.

BNSF noted that on Sept. 2, trains were delayed as its crews responded to a track washout on the Needles Subdivision; service was restored to both main lines the following day.

UP

UP Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jennifer L. Hamann has been appointed to the Steel Dynamics, Inc., Board for the balance of a one-year term ending May 2024. Hamman, age 56, will serve as an independent director and participate as a member of the Audit Committee, the North American steel producer and metal recycler reported Sept. 15.

A 30-plus-year UP veteran, Hamann has been in her current role since 2020. She has also served as Senior Vice President of Finance (April 2019-December 2019) and Vice President of Planning and Analysis (October 2017-March 2019), where she gained cross-functional leadership experiences in such areas as capital planning and analysis, debt and equity capital markets, marketing and sales, investor relations, audit, human resources, and corporate strategy. Additionally, Hamann has extensive knowledge of business and regulations within Mexico based on her participation on multiple UP Mexican joint venture Boards, Steel Dynamics, Inc., noted. She earned an M.B.A. in business administration and a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Nebraska.

Earlier this year, The Manufacturing Institute—the workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers—named Hamann a recipient of its 2023 Women MAKE Awards, “honoring women in science, technology, engineering and production careers who exemplify leadership and excellence.”