BNSF Railway announces temporary layoffs
Mike Ouellette
Slow freight shipping demand across its rail network, even though it's the biggest player in North Dakota's oil patch
BISMARCK, N.D.—BNSF Railway Co. says it’s planning employee furloughs due to slipping freight shipping demand across its rail network.
The company said in a statement that it hopes to call back employees “as soon as business needs change.”
The railroad would not say how many employees were being furloughed but that they are “at different locations across our network.”
BNSF is based in Fort Worth, Texas, and is part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., based in Omaha, Nebraska.
The railroad is the biggest player in North Dakota’s oil patch, hauling most of the more than 1.1 million barrels that moves out of the region daily. The railroad also is the biggest hauler of freight in the Upper Great Plains.
