Berkshire’s BNSF Bucks U.S. Railroads With Oil-Train Speed Limit
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BNSF Railway Co., the largest hauler of crude by rail, moved ahead of U.S. peers in the push for safety by reducing oil-carrying train speeds beyond an agreement last year between regulators and the railroads.
BNSF’s oil trains will go 35 miles per hour (56 kilometers per hour) in areas with at least 100,000 residents, a 30 percent reduction in speed in some cases, the company said Monday. Union Pacific Corp., the largest U.S. railroad by revenue, said it will study BNSF’s actions, while CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., the two largest railroads in the eastern U.S., said they aren’t taking similar steps.