(Reuters) — U.S. officials have ordered BNSF Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway to report their plans to ensure timely fertilizer deliveries to the U.S. farm belt ahead of the spring planting season.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board decision, which was filed April 15, followed a hearing in Washington where U.S. agriculture leaders reported that rail service problems have stalled grain shipments and threatened to deprive farmers of the rail-delivered fertilizers they need this spring.
Railroads have blamed uncommonly harsh winter weather and heavy demand for shipping crude oil by rail for the shipping woes, but say that service is improving with warmer weather.
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The rail dispute arbiter also asked BNSF and CP to provide it with detailed weekly status reports about fertilizer shipments for six weeks beginning April 25, including the number of cars shipped or received at agricultural destinations and data on actual performance compared with trip plans.
BNSF said it would submit its plans as requested. The railroad an-nounced it had assigned more locomotives and train crews to expedite fertilizer deliveries.
“We understand the shortness of the season and the necessity of timely delivery in order to safeguard that producers can get this year’s crops planted with the proper plant nutrients,” the railroad said in a statement.
BNSF, a unit of investor Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is one of the largest U.S. railroads and is concentrated largely in the western United States. CP’s network stretches across Canada and into the northern U.S. Midwest and Plains.
