Sidebar: BNSF looks to use Seattle network as a model

Computerworld - IT managers at The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. said the IP network that the railroad is installing along its tracks in the Seattle area may provide a model for similar deployments in other segments of BNSF's sprawling transport system.
BNSF's rail network stretches across 28 states in the western two-thirds of the continental U.S. plus two Canadian provinces. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company has already installed conduits for fiber-optic cables in the Chicago and Albuquerque metropolitan areas and has begun discussions with network services providers about using the conduits, said Greg Britz, BNSF's manager of telecommunications engineering.
A service provider could install fiber-optic cables in the conduits along a BNSF right of way, allot some of the data capacity to the railroad for its own needs and sell the remaining bandwidth to other companies, said Fred Gratke, assistant vice president of telecommunications at BNSF. But the discussions "are in the early stages," he added.
After years of slow or no business growth, railroads are gaining popularity among freight shippers due partly to high fuel costs in the trucking industry. Gratke said the resurgence has created an air of optimism at BNSF, which has seen its trains running at capacity in recent months. The company's IT workforce will remain constant for now, but Gratke said BNSF wants to make sure that its systems and networks can keep up with the increasing business demand.
Projects like the Sound Transit Telecom network installation in Seattle are directly contributing to BNSF's upsurge, according to Gratke. He said the IP network that has been partially installed along 45 miles of track between Seattle and Tacoma is helping keep freight trains running on time, among other benefits. That helps BNSF ensure that it can meet on-time delivery guarantees to freight customers such as Atlanta-based United Parcel Service Inc., Gratke noted.
Because of such guarantees during the holiday shopping season, BNSF puts new IT projects and upgrades on hold during November and December to allow its technical staffers to devote full attention to maintaining networks and systems for maximum performance. "We want to be ready," Gratke said.

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