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Subject: Berkshire Hathaway eyes stock split
Date: 12/07/2009
News
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. will hold a shareholder meeting Jan. 20 on its proposal to undertake a 50-to-1 split of its Class B shares as part of its acquisition of Burlington Northern Sante Fe Corp., according to the Wall Street Journal. The railroad is already 23 percent owned by Berkshire, which last month agreed to pay $26 billion in cash and stock for the remaining stake. As part of the deal, Berkshire announced plans for the 50-1 split of the Class B shares, which closed Thursday at $3,291. The vote date was disclosed in a filing of preliminary proxy materials Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Berkshire had previously said the meeting would be in January. In addition to voting on the stock split, which would be the first in the company's history, Berkshire holders also need to approve an increase of how much stock the conglomerate can issue. The current maximum is 57.7 million and Berkshire is proposing an increase to 3.23 billion. Shareholders as of Nov. 30 will be eligible to vote. There are 1.1 million Class A shares and 14.9 million Class B shares, and the B shares have a mere 0.5 percent of the voting power of the A shares. Warren Buffett owns one third of the As and 10 percent of the Bs. Per-share voting power of the Bs would be cut to one-tenthousandth that of the As after the stock split.
Subject: Most rail profits hold firm in downturn
Date: 11/30/2009
News
Their success in sizing operations to demand helped Class I railroads maintain a relatively high return on investment (ROI) during the 12 months ended Sept. 30, reports Railway Age magazine. During a period that contained many of the worst months of the recession, the industry earned an average return of 8.42% on its net investment, compared with 9.88% in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2008, according to the Surface Transportation Board. BNSF Railway earned an ROI of 9.27% during the latest 12-month period vs. 10.66% a year earlier. Union Pacific's respective returns were 7.88% and 9.62%. In the East, Norfolk Southern experienced one of the biggest swings in ROI, dropping to 9.48% from 14.42%. CSX Transportation posted a return of 8.15% this year vs. 8.55% in the same period last year. Kansas City Southern earned an ROI of 0.38% this year, down from 8.70%. Soo Line's return declined to 9.79% from 15.84%. CN/GrandTrunk's ROI dropped to 6.05% from 10.97%. Industry-wide, total railway operating revenues in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2009, dropped sharply to $49.9 billion from the $58.4 billion reported a year earlier. Net railway operating income, on which ROI is based, dropped to $5.7 billion from $7.2 billion.
Subject: BNSF preps for UPS' peak season
Date: 11/30/2009
News
BNSF Railway Co. has a new slogan for the United Parcel Service (UPS) peak season this year: Perfection isn’t a goal, it’s the goal. The peak season for BNSF’s second-largest intermodal customer will run from Nov. 27 to Dec. 23. In the 25-day peak period last year, the railroad successfully delivered 26,397 UPS trailers containing more than 39.5 million packages, according to an item posted on the “BNSF News” Web site. The Class I aims to provide UPS on-time and damage-free service. To that end, the railroad will continue to recognize employees who “go above and beyond” to meet service goals through a “Good Saves” program. Last year, BNSF received more than 100 Good Save nominations for employees who demonstrated resourcefulness, teamwork and quick actions, the railroad said.
Subject: Whitefish River cleanup behind schedule, unearths no surprises
Date: 11/30/2009
News
WHITEFISH - Excavators have unearthed "no big surprises" in their environmental cleanup of the Whitefish River, but the work is lagging several weeks behind schedule and is now expected to last through the end of December. "They haven't hit any major obstacles," said Jennifer Chergo, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "They're just moving slower than they expected." The cleanup, Chergo said, was planned to be about finished by now, but workers are "only about 40 percent done. I think it will probably continue through the end of December." The EPA ordered Burlington Northern Santa Fe to undertake the river restoration after finding diesel fuel and other contaminants mired in the muck. The pollution, Chergo said, was presumably put there by a century of railroading, and BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas confirmed that analysis of the sediment showed the contamination dated from "many decades ago." A local resident called EPA in 2007 to report an oily sheen on the river surface not far from a BNSF fueling facility. That area already is a state Superfund site, with a known plume of diesel spreading beneath it on the shallow aquifer. When the agency investigated, it found bunker fuel oil and weathered diesel trapped in sediment. The contamination begins adjacent to the railroad facility and extends downriver about two miles. This fall's work, Chergo said, involves cleaning a 500-foot stretch of river from the BNSF yard to the Second Street bridge on U.S. Highway 93. Crews have installed large coffer dams along the shoreline, and pumped water out from behind them. Excavators then scoop out the top foot of sediment, which is later hauled by rail to a special landfill in North Dakota. As they work, scientists analyze core samples to determine the spread of pollution, Chergo said. The contamination seems not to be evenly distributed, but rather has been concentrated in certain spots by river currents. So far, she said, the work appears to be proceeding as planned, if a little slowly. More work is set for next fall, and additional cleanup could be scheduled for spring if river flows allow. Rehabilitation of the work site will take place in the spring, Melonas said. Officials at BNSF have said they intend to remove between 1,000 and 2,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment before the project ends. Melonas said 20 rail cars already have been filled with sediment and 14 more have been ordered. "We want to ensure that we take more, rather than less," Melonas said. "We want to do this right." Melonas said this fall's work comes at an estimated cost of between $1 million and $1.5 million. He called the work to date "extremely successful." The city of Whitefish, meanwhile, has finished drilling some two dozen sampling wells, intended to assess the scope of the underground pollution plume. Residents became concerned last spring that the plume might have reached beneath neighboring properties, after BNSF approached homeowners with offers to buy them out. Several in the trendy Railroad District neighborhood agreed to sell. Working with a state grant, city officials drilled the one-time-use sampling holes in mid-November, and now await lab results. City Attorney John Phelps said the analysis should be complete within a matter of "days or weeks. We certainly hope all the samples come back clean, but at this point that almost seems like too much to ask." City leaders have requested that BNSF place the neighborhood properties it purchased back on the market, as a show of confidence the land is unpolluted. The railroad has not responded to that request. In addition to EPA and city officials, state regulators also are investigating site pollution at the Whitefish railroad facility, in anticipation of a long-term cleanup there including the underground plumes and shallower soils.
Subject: Amtrak Boulder Colision
Date: 11/30/2009
News
The front wheels on the lead locomotive of an Amtrak train headed to Seattle derailed Wednesday evening after it struck a boulder that had rolled onto the tracks in the Pinnacle area. None of the train’s 256 passengers reported injuries, said Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero, adding that the train’s cars never lost power, lights, or heat. The train was westbound from Chicago shortly after 7 p.m. Wednesday when it struck the large boulder, which had rolled down from an adjacent slope near the tiny town of Pinnacle, which is located about five miles west of Essex on U.S. 2. A derailment construction crew with equipment from Havre re-railed the lead locomotive, and crews with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad cleared debris from the tracks, said BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas. The tracks were reopened to traffic Wednesday night, Melonas said. Besides the Amtrak passenger train, which was held up five hours and 55 minutes, five Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight trains also were delayed. “Crews will inspect the track throughout the weekend to ensure slope stability,” Melonas said. “The line is open... and conditions are safe for operation” as of Thursday, he said. Thirty-five trains use that stretch of track, which runs along the southern border of Glacier National Park parallel to U.S. 2 daily, Melonas said.
Subject: New Pay rates for July 2009
Date: 06/23/2009
News
I have posted the pay rates that become effective July 1, 2009 at the following link. http://utu386.org/payrates/ Jay Schollmeyer