BNSF introduces expanded Memphis Intermodal Facility

February 14, 2001 On April 21, BNSF introduced its new Memphis Intermodal Facility to customers, community and state leaders during the facility's grand opening ceremony. BNSF's Memphis Intermodal Facility is now fully operational after a $200-million expansion and rebuilding.

BNSF’s newest intermodal
facility will double BNSF’s lift capacity in the Memphis market and improve
efficiency while also reducing emissions and helping to improve air quality.

The BNSF Memphis
Intermodal Facility spans 185 acres and will have the capacity to handle one
million lifts per year at full build out. The facility is equipped with eight
wide-span, electric, rail-mounted gantry cranes, which produce zero emissions
on site and will significantly reduce the number of hostler trucks needed to
move containers within the yard.

The new Memphis
Intermodal Facility also features a streamlined automated gate system for
trucks as they enter and exit the Memphis Intermodal Facility, which uses digital
cameras to record images of containers, chassis and tractors. Drivers are also identified
using a biometric system. These enhancements have increased security, while improving
throughput, reducing truck idling time and emissions by 50 percent.

"BNSF greatly appreciates
the support of all of the political and business leaders who worked with us to
make this day possible. That support is an important part of the reason why
Memphis has developed into one of the most strategic transportation hubs in the
Southeastern U.S.," said John Lanigan, executive vice president and chief marketing
officer for BNSF. "BNSF’s significant investment in this new facility will not
only make this one of the most efficient and environmentally-friendly
intermodal facilities in the country, it will also help improve Memphis’s
position in the global supply chain by offering our customers more capacity and
service options."

Customers, community and
state leaders, and other BNSF guests were offered tours of all of the facility’s
advanced technologies and design features from the streamlined in-gate process through
the loading and unloading of containers by the wide-span electric cranes.