BNSF, 'select' short lines aim for the fences to drive carloads home 

By Julie Sneider, Senior Editor 

To Mark Ganaway, trying to grow freight-rail carload volume in the wake of years of industry challenges is a lot like trying to score runs in baseball.  

His analogy goes something like this: Homerun king Babe Ruth, arguably the greatest player of all time, represents the energy industry of years past, when unit trains of coal, crude oil and frac sand were dependable business prospects. But today’s market conditions are better suited for players like Ty Cobb, the baseball legend known for his record-breaking hits and aggressive style of play to help score runs for the team. 

“The Babe Ruth homerun shots are kind of gone,” explains Ganaway. “So now, we’ve gotta be more like Ty Cobb: hitting singles and fielding every base that we can to drive growth.” 

As general director of short-line service at BNSF Railway Co., Ganaway uses the analogy to explain the rationale behind BNSF’s new Shortline Select program. Launched in September 2024, the effort combines the customized service of short lines with a 32,500-mile freight-rail network that spans 28 states and three Canadian provinces. The program’s genesis was BNSF’s interest in increasing carload volume by working more closely with certain smaller railroads that provide first- and last-mile service for customers. 

Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway, one of the largest of Genesee & Wyoming Inc.’s railroads, was the first to participate in BNSF’s Shortline Select program. Genesee & Wyoming Inc.

“Short lines are a really important way that we serve our customers,” says Ganaway. “Roughly a third of the non-intermodal, non-coal carload freight that we handle touches a short line. For us to continue to grow in a carload freight environment that’s been challenging in the last three years, we developed a tool where we could engage more deeply with our short-line partners.” 

BNSF is among other Class Is that have tightened connections with smaller railroads as part of their growth strategies.  

The first short line chosen to be part of BNSF’s program is Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway (AGR), one of the largest of Genesee & Wyoming Inc.’s railroads. AGR owns, leases and operates 423 track miles that serve industries in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Although AGR has been a BNSF short-line partner for some time, the purpose of the Shortline Select connection is to streamline the supply chain process and improve service for their joint customers. 

For example, BNSF can bring the resources of a multibillion-dollar Class I to attract new business on the AGR network through economic development offerings like BNSF’s Certified Sites program, which identifies rail-ready industrial locations for new or existing customers. The program features the BNSF stamp-of-approval for meeting development readiness. Until AGR joined Shortline Select, short lines were not included in the Certified Sites program, Ganaway says. 

In another shared-resource example, transload providers on AGR’s rail system may now be included in Premier Transload, a network of more than 400 transloaders across the BNSF system. 

To be sure, Shortline Select offers mutual benefits, such as opening markets to BNSF that it may not have had quick access to before. For instance, AGR is the primary rail provider for the 189-acre Mobile Gateway Park, just a 20-mile drive north of the Port of Mobile in Alabama, one of the fastest-growing container ports on the U.S. Gulf Coast. When transporting freight out of the park, AGR interchanges with BNSF in Amory, Mississippi. 

Texas-based TXNW Railway is one of five short lines participating in BNSF’s Shortline Select initiative.TNW Corp.

The park’s proximity to the port makes it a prime site for development for multiple commodities — something AGR and BNSF aim to encourage, according to Kimberly Thompson, G&W’s vice president of marketing and sales. 

“We have a very heavy forest products franchise in the Southeast, but we’re willing to look at any bulk commodities that may use the Port of Mobile,” she says. 

Together, both railroads are exploring potential business opportunities in the pipeline. The railroads’ sales forces get together for “sales blitzes” to drum up business. And when those opportunities arise, AGR and BNSF have pre-defined rate agreements in place that enable faster responses to customers requesting quotes. 

“They [AGR] really are our extension into that market,” says Ganaway. “The way we bit into the Mobile area is through them. If BNSF is going to grow in that area it will be with Genesee & Wyoming, so [the Shortline Select partnership] is strategic in the Mobile Gateway Park.” 

When it comes to service improvement, BNSF and AGR are focused on ensuring their interchanges occur effectively and efficiently. 

“We’ve got teams from both railroads looking at metrics for interchange consistency, and other ones that are focused on how we can improve cycle times for rail cars,” says Ganaway. 
 
The result? Shorter carload dwell time. 

“We’ve looked for outliers of long-dwelling cars, got them off the road and sped up overall service,” he says.  

Since AGR joined Shortline Select, BNSF has added four more railroads to the program: G&W’s Oregon-based Portland & Western Railroad; Iowa-based Burlington Junction Railway; Texas-based TXNW Railway; and most recently, the North Dakota-based Red River Valley & Western Railroad. A couple more may soon join as well, according to Ganaway. 

Already, tighter partnerships with the first five have produced results. In total, across the Shortline Select base, a couple thousand new carload opportunities are “closed and won,” plus the roads’ teams have identified and are working on securing more, says Ganaway. 

“That’s what this program is about: Hitting singles and stealing bases, then working collaboratively to get every carload onto the network,” he says. “That’s what makes working with these short-line partners fun. We’re all fighting for those carloads.”