OREANDA-NEWS. BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) plans to invest an estimated USD 115 million on maintenance and rail capacity expansion projects in Montana this year.

BNSF will expand capacity in Montana by constructing three new unit train staging tracks about three miles east of Glasgow and will enhance safety by adding machine vision technology at Miles City to help detect damaged equipment.

BNSF will also continue its robust track maintenance program in Montana, which will include more than 2,300 miles of track surfacing and undercutting work, the replacement of nearly 100 miles of rail and about 310,000 ties, as well as significant signal upgrades for federally mandated positive train control (PTC).

The planned capital investments in Montana are part of BNSF's record 2013 capital commitment of USD 4.3 billion. The largest component of the capital plan is spending USD 2.3 billion on BNSF's core network and related assets. BNSF also plans to spend approximately USD 1 billion on locomotive, freight car and other equipment acquisitions, many of which will serve Montana. The program also includes about USD 200 million for positive train control and USD 800 million for terminal, line and intermodal expansion and efficiency projects.

Unlike other modes of transportation, U.S. freight railroads use their own private dollars, not tax dollars, to build and maintain their freight rail networks.  Since the year 2000, BNSF has invested more than USD 42 billion to improve and expand its freight rail network.