BNSF
“When we achieve excellence in safety at BNSF, we not only acknowledge it, but we also celebrate it,” BNSF recently reported via social media. “That’s what BNSF’s Safety Bell Award program is all about, using brass bells of yesteryears’ steam locomotives to annually recognize major Operations work teams that achieve best safety performance.”
Eight BNSF teams earned Safety Bells in 2024:
- Best Overall Division: California Division
- Best Transportation Team: Kansas Division
- Best Mechanical System Shop: Northtown (Minneapolis, Minn.) Diesel Shop
- Best Field Mechanical: California and Powder River divisions
- Best Engineering Team: Southwest Division
- Best Intermodal Equipment Operators: Memphis (Tenn.) and Seattle (Wash.)
The Class I in its LinkedIn post thanked and congratulated the honorees “for their dedication to safety throughout the year!”
Among BNSF’s 2023 Safety Bell honorees: Heartland Division (Best Overall Division); Northwest Division (Best Transportation Team); and Commerce, California, Diesel Shop (Best Mechanical Shop).
In related news, Union Pacific recently recognized its Pacific Northwest team and Heartland service unit with Safety Bells.
Also via social media, BNSF reported on March 10 that 40 first responders participated in a joint BNSF-CPKC Vehicle Response Training in North Dakota. The aim: to prepare for a potential lithium battery-caused fire in an autorack railcar or intermodal container.
Training showed participants how to isolate and evaluate the safety of damaged electric vehicles (EVs) and lithium-Ion batteries, according to the railroad.
“The volume of EV vehicles in rail transportation has increased exponentially in the past few years and this training was a great opportunity to bring EV hazard mitigation techniques to local firefighters,” reported Paul Hester, Manager of Hazardous Materials Field Operations and Emergency Response at BNSF.
CPKC/CN
CPKC on March 10 welcomed to the Port of Vancouver, Canada the first vessel from the Gemini Cooperation, a global shipping operational collaboration between Hapag-Lloyd AG and A.P. Moller-Maersk. Launched Feb. 1, 2025, Gemini’s goal is “to deliver a flexible and interconnected ocean network with industry-leading schedule reliability above 90% once fully phased in” this June.
Around 340 vessels will be phased in and part of Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd’s shared ocean network, which covers East/West trades and consists of 29 ocean mainliner services supported by an network of 28 intraregional shuttle services, according to the partners.
With the Frankfurt Express container ship docked, CPKC celebrated with Hapag-Lloyd and DP World at the Centerm container facility “marking this milestone port call,” according to the railroad via a LinkedIn post.
“As their strategic rail carrier across the entire continent, we congratulate Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk on their ambition to deliver a fast, flexible ocean network with industry-leading reliability being its cornerstone,” CPKC reported. “That aspiration perfectly aligns with CPKC’s own precision scheduled railroading operating model that delivers the best rail service in the industry to our valued customers. We’re proud to serve Gemini’s port calls in Vancouver, as well as at Port Saint John in New Brunswick and at Lázaro Cárdenas in Mexico. Thank you to DP World and Hapag-Lloyd for hosting and congratulations again!”
Similarly, CN recently welcomed the Leonidio to Port Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada, another first for Gemini. “CN is proud to be part of the journey,” the Class I reported via LinkedIn. “By working closely with our supply chain partners and Canadian ports, we’re helping build stronger, more reliable trade routes that businesses can count on. This is just the beginning! Stay tuned for more updates on this growing trade network.”
