Ex-AT&SF rough riding main line

[jamesedwbradley]

My wife and I traveled 7000 Amtrak miles in Dec. 2000, Harrisburg (PA)- Chicago - L. A. - Bakersfield - Sacramento - Seattle -Chicago - Washington - Phila. NS (ex-CR) roadbed rode very well, CSX was o.k. I anticipated smooth ride over BNSF but cars bounced, lurched, and hunted all 2200 miles to L.A. In dining car, flower vases overturned two different days, and a sauce bottle shot off table and broke (about 10-20 miles east of Gallup, NM). I anticipated rough ride Seattle-Chicago but it was glass-smooth. Possibly high speeds on AT&SF line were a contributing factor - Empire Builder takes about 4 hr. longer for about same distance as AT&SF. Did anyone else have this experience?

[Anonymous]

James, I posted this earlier on another forum:

"BNSF is having a hard time on the stock and political fronts. Trains Mag recently rated their dual track mainlines from Belen, NM thru Amarillo, TX to Okla as the fastest freight lines in the world. They run about 100 long haul freight all kinds (FAK), intermodal, auto, and coal trains daily through Amarillo, TX, plus about 20 local trains. Its a great place to watch trains, by the way.

BNSF stock keeps slipping below $25 and they are deferring everything to divert funds and buy back shares. I understand that they've bought back or plan to buy back millions of shares.

Additionally, they have had some real bad press resulting from their genetic testing of up to 10,000 employees. EEOC took them to federal court and forced them to stop/settle.

BNSF Press Release regarding a management review of the EEOC action dated 12Feb2001: "Effective today, the team concluded that BNSF will stop including in any employee testing a DNA factor for carpal tunnel syndrome."

Bev