Safety has never been a buzzword for BNSF Railway. It has always been the foundation of who we are and what we do. It is on the forefront of every railroaders’ mind as they work around the clock, 24/7, to haul the goods we all use every day.

Freight rail is the safest and most environmentally friendly mode of surface transportation. BNSF’s unrelenting focus on safety is reflected in our excellent safety program and record. In fact, 99.999 percent of all BNSF customer hazardous materials shipments are delivered without incident. We invest billions of dollars each year to continuously improve our operations, infrastructure and safety efforts. The first line of defense is prevention – policies, training, technologies and preventative maintenance – to make sure accidents don’t happen.

BNSF has invested in new technologies and infrastructure to further reduce risks and enhance safety. For example, BNSF has a very robust track inspection program, which meets all federal standards and utilizes highly skilled track inspectors and advanced technology. Rail detectors and track geometry cars are key components of BNSF’s track inspection program that utilizes state-of-the-art technology to help identify defects or problem areas that cannot be detected by the human eye. BNSF has made significant investments in inspection and detection technology to enhance the regular manual inspection process.

BNSF also has special detection technology along key routes on our network sending back thousands of messages daily as they monitor for early signs of potential problems that could cause premature equipment wear or failure. BNSF has also been developing predictive analytics to leverage the combined information received from the multiple types of detectors to discover potential issues before they arise.

Being prepared and preventing incidents is the best way to keep everyone safe. We recognize that incidents can occur, and that strong emergency response can help minimize their scope and duration. This is why BNSF has worked extensively with local, state and federal officials from environmental and first responder agencies to protect our communities through an extensive emergency preparedness and planning program.

This includes year-round emergency response preparation, training, exercises and having access to the best-in-class response equipment. BNSF has response plans for different scenarios and commodities, specialized equipment, and on-staff as well as contracted responders all ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. To serve North Idaho, we have staged resources and equipment in Clark Fork, Sandpoint, Deep Creek and in Bonners Ferry. We also have response equipment in Thompson Falls, Missoula, Troy, Libby and Whitefish, Montana; and Everett, Seattle, Vancouver, Longview, Wishram, Bingen, Pasco and Spokane, Wash.

BNSF works closely with our agency, community, and industry partners to develop, maintain, and test highly detailed geographic response plans including for Lake Pend Oreille and the Clark Fork and Kootenai rivers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality publish and maintain GRPs, which identify environmentally sensitive areas, and the priority actions needed to protect these areas. To protect inland waters, BNSF has tested the GRPs and coordinated fast-water training for hundreds of local and regional first responders on Lake Pend Oreille and the Clark Fork River in winter and fast-water conditions. This training included testing Lake Pend Oreille boat launch sites available during drawdowns. Local fire departments, inland oil spill response organization staff and agencies participants including the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, EPA and U.S. Coast Guard have participated in the inland oil spill fast water training in North Idaho and across the Northwest.

In Sandpoint, BNSF and our industry partners have provided state-of-art equipment, such as oil spill response trailers, airboats, jet boats, boom reels, current busters, boom vanes, oil-under-ice trailers, which allow responders to train in remote locations, fast water and freezing conditions. As an example, BNSF is providing an airboat suitable for ice rescue and frozen lake access for North Idaho first responders to use on Lake Pend Oreille. BNSF is also planning to conduct a winter response exercise during the winter of 2019 to demonstrate adverse winter conditions oil spill recovery techniques.

In Clark Fork, BNSF and our industry partners have stockpiled emergency response equipment including a jet boat, boom trailers and a current buster to enable responders to quick access to equipment staged at the mouth of the Clark Fork River at the inlet to Lake Pend Oreille. BNSF continuously works to improve its program of “Best Available Protection” for oil spill and hazmat response including updating its plans, training, and equipment. The benefits of this “Best Available Protection” program to the communities in which we operate include improved response readiness as well as improved stakeholder relations between local and state officials, first responder agencies, Tribal leaders, critical resource trustees and community participants.

BNSF works continuously to meet and surpass all applicable safety and security requirements. These efforts make our rail transportation system one of the safest in the world. For well over a century, BNSF has safely moved goods to and from the Northwest and is proud of its strong ties to North Idaho. BNSF’s commitment to preventing accidents contributed to the Federal Railroad Administration declaring the last several years the safest for freight rail in United States history. This is a legacy BNSF is committed to maintaining and working to improve in the years to come.

Courtney Wallace is the regional director for community affairs for BNSF Railway. She is based in Seattle, Wash.