The U.S. Department of Transportation expects freight traffic across the country to increase by 50% over the next 30 years. With that growth, Fort Worth-based BNSF is using technology to handle an increase in demand.
Tom Williams, BNSF Vice President of Consumer Products, said railroads account for 40% of all long-haul cargo shipments in the U.S.
"I am quite certain everybody who lives in North Texas has bought something in the last two or three months that has moved on a BNSF train," Williams said.
Even with rail handling 40% of cargo shipments, Williams said rail accounts for just .6% of greenhouse gas emissions.
"The efficiencies of rail are significant, and as we look to the future, an efficient supply chain is imperative," he said. "This is the most cost-effective and environmentally effective way to get cargo from the manufacturer into the hands of all of us."
Williams said BNSF has worked to streamline intermodal shipping, describing the process as a relay race. He says a train receives a hand-off at a port then the train will hand off the product to trucks.
BNSF installed automated gates at its hubs in 2007, he said. More recently BNSF has provided truckers with an app so they can track when their shipment is arriving in real-time. Since then, he said wait times at its gates have been reduced to just 30 seconds.
"We make it easier to digitally communicate real-time shipping data," Williams said.
Williams said that same technology allows BNSF to receive feedback from customers about freight needs to better plan its own network.
"Ultimately, having better visibility across the entire supply chain allows us to better coordinate the journey of every specific shipment," Williams says.
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