News Release

World's Largest Company Names BNSF Rail Provider of the Year for Fourth Consecutive Year

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 15, 2002:

The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) today announced it was named Rail Provider of the Year by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the nation’s largest retailer and world’s largest company in terms of annual revenue.

For the fourth consecutive year, BNSF was recognized by Wal-Mart as Rail Provider of the Year at Wal-Mart’s annual Carrier Conference. To date, BNSF is the only railroad that has received this honor.

Selection criteria for the award included systems technology, on-time pick up and delivery, customer service, pricing, equipment capacity and ease of doing business.

“It is an honor to be recognized again by Wal-Mart as a vital link in their supply chain,” said Steve Branscum, group vice president, BNSF Consumer Products. “We look forward to strengthening our relationship further with Wal-Mart by continuing to provide premium intermodal and carload transportation products that deliver speed, reliability and consistent service.”

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI), BNSF operates one of the largest rail networks in North America, with 33,000 route miles of track covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a wide variety of customer transactions. The railway moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America’s largest grain-hauling railroad, and hauls enough coal to generate more than 10 percent of the electricity produced in the United States.

BNSF Headquarters
BNSF Railway Company
2650 Lou Menk Dr. 2nd Floor
P.O. Box 961057
Fort Worth, TX 76161-0057
Phone: (817) 352-1000