News Release

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

FORT WORTH, Texas, October 17, 2002:

Directors of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE:BNI) voted on September 19, 2002, to pay a regular quarterly dividend of 12 cents per share on outstanding common stock.

Dividends on common stock will be paid January 2, 2003, to shareholders of record December 12, 2002. Common shares outstanding on September 30, 2002, totaled approximately 379 million.

Through its subsidiary, The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company, 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 variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com. The railway moves more intermodal traffic than any other rail system in the world, is America’s largest grain-hauling railroad, transports the mineral components of many of the products we depend on daily, 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