Beverages | BNSF

Beverages

Moving beverages takes special equipment and expertise to ensure the product stays secure. For temperature-sensitive beverages, we have an insulated railcar fleet that’s exactly right for the job. Regardless of the beverage, we can get it to where it needs to go, thanks to one of the largest rail networks in North America and our access to major metropolitan areas.

Whether you’re shipping one carload or several, we offer consistent, reliable and cost-effective service. Through our service, you can access the most efficient rail network in North America directly to/from your facility.

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Use our Get a Freight Rate tool  to obtain a price for shipping beverages.

Pricing Tools and Resources

  • Beverages are moved under various price authorities .

Key STCCs (Standard Transportation Commodity Codes)

Key STCCs for beverages (but not limited to):

STCC Description
20821 Malt liquor
20841 Wine
20851 Alcohol

Please go to our ethanol page for pricing questions about consumable ethanol, STCC 2085120.

BNSF provides superior customer service and support through our dedicated team of shipping experts and our well-maintained fleet that meets the weight and size needs of the industry. With access to most major Beverages production and consumption areas in the Western United States and joint-line access to Eastern Markets, we have the flexibility to get your goods where they need to go.

  • Review transit times for beverages shipped using our single car services.
  • BNSF provides service for Beverages only on designated routes. Find out where BNSF ships.
  • Check to see if BNSF serves your destination using our switching guides.
  • Customers desiring to ship in unit train service must comply with the Unit Train Operating Guidelines. Please note, in order to take advantage of our Unit Train service, you must own or lease your equipment.

Insulated Boxcar

Insulated Boxcar
Specifications Table Diagram
Inside Length 60 ft
Inside Height 10.6 ft
Inside Width 9 ft to 9.4 ft
Door Type Plug
Door Width 10.6 ft to 16 ft
Lading Capacity 164,000 to 175,000 lbs
Cubic Foot Capacity 6,000
Plate C

** All materials are provided for informational purposes only; BNSF makes no warranty regarding accuracy and shall not be liable for any errors and/or omissions. Materials are subject to change at any time without notice or publication. Please consult with the Equipment Department for the most up to date and accurate data.

Boxcar

Boxcar

Boxcar

This video covers the safe operation of boxcar doors.

Boxcar

This video covers the tools available for customers to report a railcar's condition.


Specifications Table Diagram (50 ft) Diagram (60 ft)
Inside Length 50 ft 60 ft
Inside Height 13 ft 13 ft
Inside Width 9.6 ft 9.6 ft
Door Type Plug Sliding and plug
Door Width 10.6 ft to 16 ft 10.6 ft to 16 ft
Lading Capacity 185,000 to 215,000 lbs 201,000 to 209,000 lbs
Cubic Foot Capacity 6,100 to 6,250 7,500
Plate F F, G

** All materials are provided for informational purposes only; BNSF makes no warranty regarding accuracy and shall not be liable for any errors and/or omissions. Materials are subject to change at any time without notice or publication. Please consult with the Equipment Department for the most up to date and accurate data.

Tank Cars

Tank Car

Customers shipping commodities via rail that require movement in a tank car are able to supply and load their own tank cars for movement by BNSF. BNSF does not supply customers with tank cars for shipping. For more information on tank car specifications and regulations, please refer to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s website.

 



Private Equipment Guidelines

The following section contains guidelines and information for the use of privately marked equipment where BNSF is the origination line-haul carrier.

  1. Private rail equipment must meet the Association of American Railroads' Circular OT-5 for Rules Governing the Assignment of Reporting Marks and Mechanical Designations. Privately marked equipment must also be registered via the OT-57 process that is administered by Railinc. For more information, please visit Railinc's Loading Authority (OT-57) web site.
  2. Private equipment controlling entities are required to manage the flow (pipeline) of empty equipment moving to BNSF origin line haul locations or connecting carrier serving locations to preserve network fluidity.
  3. BNSF may require private equipment controlling entities to move equipment off-line at their expense to preserve network fluidity.
  4. Private equipment is subject to charges for equipment held for loading and unloading, and also equipment held for purposes other than loading or unloading.
  5. BNSF Mechanical requirements for Private Equipment.
SAFETY IS BNSF'S MAIN PRIORITY

The following is not all inclusive however equipment must comply with all of the following key Mechanical Requirements:

  1. All interchange freight car owners must subscribe to the AAR Interchange Rules and be listed in FindUs.Rail.
  2. Cars must comply with and be maintained, by the owner, per the AAR Office and Field Manual Rules.
  3. All AAR Field Manual Rules (Sections A.1 and A.2 defects along with any component obsolete or prohibited in interchange) must be complied with and equipment must be repaired or replaced prior to placement of the cars on BNSF.
  4. All cars must have yellow FRA 224 compliant reflectorization with the application date registered in Umler (no grandfathered material allowed).
  5. Angle cocks located below the coupler as shown in AAR Field Manual Rule 5 Figure 14 are prohibited.
  6. Greater than 268,000 Pound Gross Rail Load Freight Cars of any car type must meet one of the following criteria:
    1. Cars are approved by the AAR per Specification S-286 or
    2. Cars are approved by the AAR per Specification S-259 and the following is met: Cars must be equipped with constant contact side bearings, preferably long travel.
    3. Cars must be registered with the proper Star Code.
  1. 286,000 Pound Gross Rail Load Freight Cars of any car type less than 44 feet 11 inches in overall length must have route specifically approved by BNSF due to bridge loading concerns. The following link can assist in route selections: Rail Network Maps.
  2. Flat Cars of any type and capacity must be equipped with constant contact side bearings. Long travel constant contact side bearings are preferred.
  3. Covered Hoppers must have outlet gates that seal completely. The sealing member must be maintained in good condition and not allow product to bypass the gaskets/seals and leak onto the ground. All gates must be of a positive lock design with security seal capability.
  4. Cars equipped with one or more rotary couplers must be equipped with anti-gravity locks on both ends.
  5. All Cars must meet AAR and FRA Safety Appliance Standards.
  6. Gondolas and bulkhead flat cars must be equipped with crossover platform and associated safety appliances on both ends.
  7. Bottom dump coal hopper cars equipped with door line air hose must have this hose in the "low" configuration as to not block the crossover platform.
  8. Tank cars must be equipped with a Group R "weather resistant" slack adjuster.

Foreign Marked Equipment Guidelines

Foreign marked equipment is defined as equipment having reporting marks of a non-BNSF controlled railroad or equipment that contains non-private marks. Private marks are defined as equipment initials ending with an X, with the exception of TTX owned/controlled equipment.

  • Request for assignment of foreign marked equipment should be in accordance of Car Service Rule 16. Requests should be made to your BNSF representative.
  • BNSF reserves the right not to use foreign marked equipment when BNSF controlled equipment is available. If no agreement exist with customers/controlling entities to utilize foreign marked cars, BNSF may refuse to place non-BNSF marked equipment for loading and may return them to the railroad whose marks are stenciled on the cars.
  • Prior to securing foreign marked equipment to be loaded at a location where BNSF is the origin line haul carrier, customers/controlling entities must discuss equipment options with their BNSF Sales representative.

Loading Origin Guarantees

Shippers have the ability to guarantee equipment supply through BNSF's Loading Origins Guarantee (LOGs) program. See more information on the LOGs program.

BNSF customers can stay up-to-date on the latest news covering BNSF services, tools, prices and facilities by subscribing to BNSF Customer Notifications.

  • Network Update: Network Update notifications inform BNSF customers on a biweekly basis of the overall state of our network.
  • Service Advisories: Service Advisory notifications inform BNSF customers of temporary changes or interruptions to transportation service.
  • Marketing News: Marketing News notifications inform BNSF customers of new service or product offerings, or of permanent changes to existing service.
  • Pricing Updates : Pricing Update notifications inform BNSF customers of changes to existing rates or price structures.
  • Facility Updates: Facility Update notifications inform BNSF customers of changes related to specific facilities.
  • BNSF.com Updates: bnsf.com Update notifications inform BNSF customers of new Web tools at www.bnsf.com, or changes to existing tools.
  • Customer Letters: Customer Letters inform BNSF customers on a variety of marketing and service-related topics.

Become a New BNSF Customer

Begin shipping with BNSF quickly and easily. We will need the following information to get you started with BNSF:

  • Commodities you will be shipping. Please use our STCC/Commodity Lookup tool for exact commodity information.
  • Origin and destination for your shipment.
  • Amount you will be shipping.
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Pricing/Rates

Easily search available rates, collaborate with BNSF on rates, as well as track the progress on rates for new opportunities.

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Shipping Questions

BNSF Customer Support can answer shipment questions including shipping instructions, equipment movement, web support, invoices, equipment and demurrage

Customer Support
888-428-2673

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