Bn Santa Fe To Buy Track From Rivals

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. said Tuesday it will pay $150 million to buy more than 335 miles of railroad track from merger partners Union Pacific Corp. and Southern Pacific Rail Corp.

The BNSF also agreed not to oppose the $5.4 billion merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific that will create North America’s largest freight railroad.

Burlington Northern, which last week completed a $4 billion merger with Santa Fe Pacific Corp., also is gaining rights to use an additional 3,500 miles of line as part of the agreement, while giving the merger partners some 300 miles of track rights.

BNSF said the deal will give it access to many new shippers in the Gulf Coast petrochemical belt, along the U.S.-Mexico border, in the intermountain West and in California and the Pacific Northwest. It also will bring the railroad to both Utah and Nevada.

Jim Sabourin, spokesman for the Fort Worth, Texas-based railroad, said the agreement would expose BNSF to a potential $1 billion in new business.

Union Pacific and Southern Pacific said the agreement will “preserve and intensify rail competition” following their merger.