News Release

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Reports Third Quarter 2002 Results

FORT WORTH, Texas, October 22, 2002:

• Third-quarter 2002 earnings of $0.51 per share compared with $0.56 per share excluding adjustments for an automotive contract settlement and non-operating investment losses in 2001, or $0.58 per share including these items.
• Freight revenues were $2.28 billion, even with the adjusted prior period.
• Operating income was $421 million compared with adjusted operating income of $470 million a year ago.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNSF) (NYSE: BNI) today reported third-quarter 2002 earnings of $0.51 per share compared with $0.56 per share excluding adjustments for an automotive contract settlement and non-operating investment losses in 2001, or $0.58 per share including these items.

“BNSF posted its fourth consecutive year-over-year quarterly record for on-time performance for our customers,” said Matthew K. Rose, BNSF Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “BNSF is maintaining its focus on customer service and cost control in this current difficult revenue environment.”

Freight revenues for the 2002 third quarter were $2.28 billion compared with 2001 revenues of $2.31 billion or $2.28 billion excluding the $32 million automotive contract settlement. Consumer Products adjusted revenues increased $27 million, or 3 percent, to $881 million, due to increased intermodal volumes in the international and truckload businesses, despite the work stoppage late in the third quarter at West Coast ports. Industrial Products revenues fell $11 million, or 2 percent, to $524 million, as general softness in the building, construction and petroleum products sectors was partially offset by new chemical traffic.

Coal revenues increased $16 million, or 3 percent, to $535 million, reflecting increased shipments compared with the same period in 2001. Agricultural Products revenues declined $32 million, or 9 percent, to $342 million, primarily as a result of reduced export demand.

Operating expenses of $1.89 billion were $46 million, or 2 percent, higher than the same 2001 period. Compensation and benefits expense increased primarily due to the recently announced decrease in the long-term return on pension assets assumption. Additionally, most other operating expense categories were higher, except for fuel, which was lower than the previous year due to a reduction in fuel price per gallon.

Operating income was $421 million for the 2002 third quarter compared with operating income in the same 2001 period of $502 million or $470 million excluding the automotive contract settlement. BNSF’s operating ratio increased to 81.6 percent for the 2002 third quarter compared with 78.3 percent or 79.4 percent excluding the automotive contract settlement in 2001.

Common Stock Repurchases

During the 2002 third quarter, BNSF repurchased 2.9 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $28.09 per share. This brings total repurchases under BNSF’s 120-million share-repurchase program to 113.0 million shares as of September 30, 2002, at an average price of $25.97 per share since the program was announced in July 1997.

A subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI), The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) operates one of the largest railroad networks in North America, with 33,000 route miles covering 28 states and two Canadian provinces. BNSF is an industry leader in Web-enabling a variety of customer transactions at www.bnsf.com. For the year ended 2001, the railway moved 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.

Consolidated financial statements follow.

Statements made in this release concerning predictions or expectations of financial or operational performance, or concerning other future events or results, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from that projected or implied in those statements. Important factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, economic and industry conditions: material adverse changes in economic or industry conditions, both within the United States and globally, customer demand, effects of adverse economic conditions affecting shippers, adverse economic conditions in the industries and geographic areas that produce and consume freight, competition and consolidation within the transportation industry, changes in fuel prices, changes in the securities and capital markets, and changes in labor costs and labor difficulties, including stoppages affecting either BNSF’s operations or our customers’ abilities to deliver goods to BNSF for shipment; legal and regulatory factors: developments and changes in laws and regulations and the ultimate outcome of shipper claims, environmental investigations or proceedings and other types of claims and litigation; and operating factors: technical difficulties, changes in operating conditions and costs, and competition and commodity concentrations, the Company’s ability to achieve its operational and financial initiatives and to contain costs, as well as natural events such as severe weather, floods and earthquakes or other disruptions of the Company’s operating systems, structures, or equipment.

The Company cautions against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which reflect its current beliefs and are based on information currently available to it as of the date a forward-looking statement is made. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise forward-looking statements to reflect future events, changes in circumstances, or changes in beliefs. In the event the Company does update any forward-looking statement, no inference should be made that the Company will make additional updates with respect to that statement, related matters, or any other forward-looking statement.

Consolidated financial statements

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