In The News

ROSE OPEN TO HEAVY TRUCKS -- May 26, 2008

WASHINGTON REPORT Edition: TRAFFIC WORLD Page: 13

ARI NATTER

In a signal of potential thawing relations between the railroad and trucking industry, BNSF chief Matthew K. Rose says he wouldn't maintain a blockade against longer and heavier trucks under the right circumsances.

Rose, chairman, president and CEO of BNSF, said in an interview he could accept increased size and weight restrictions on trucks if the heavier trucks pay "their fair share" to maintain roads under the wear and tear of larger vehicles. "As long as under these new standards, we fully allocated their costs to the roads and they paid those costs, then I would not stand in the way," he told Traffic World.

Rose stressed he was putting out "the BNSF position, not the railroad industry position." But his comments also suggest the landscape has changed since the two central freight hauling industries battled over truck size and weight standards in the 1990s before striking what they called a "truce" six years ago, setting the issue aside to work together on broader transportation funding. With jockeying over a new highway bill already under way, some truckers this month launched a new campaign this week to raise maximum truck weight limits from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds.

Rose said the greater flexibility is the result of changing patterns in freight shipping since the modes were at odds years ago, with the growth in intermodal now creating new business realities.

"Things are different from what it was when we had the truce six years ago," he said. "Now, our three largest customers are trucking companies, and they're saying, 'We want to give you more of our freight.'"