Williams—Rail Outlook: Change, Challenge and Opportunity

Presenter: Tom Williams, Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, BNSF Railway
Timing: Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026 (10:45 am - 11:15 am)
Session: Rail Transportation Outlook: Change, Challenge and Opportunity

1. Copyright 2026 BNSF Railway. All rights reserved. All trademarks, copyrights and materials not owned by BNSF are the property of the cited source. TOM WILLIAMS | EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER NATIONAL ETHANOL CONFERENCE | FEBRUARY 26, 2026 Rail Outlook: Change, Challenge and Opportunity
2. Innovation Performance Competition
3. Drives competition and improves our resiliency and efficiency. INNOVATION
4. Ethanol Supply Chain and Transportation Patterns
5. 10 YEAR CAPITAL INVESTMENTS 2026P Capital Investments $3.6 Billion $2.8B on maintenance • 13,000 miles track surfacing / undercutting • 400 miles of rail replacement • 2.5 million rail ties
6. 6 6 Track Health Optical Recognition (THOR) On-Board Defect Identification & Notification (ODIN) Advancing track inspection technology for a data-driven predictive approach.
7. A new technology vision: To transform the future of freight rail through innovation.
8. PERFORMANCE
9. Reduced rail equipment incidents by 13% • 10 straight years of industry leadership Record low injury totals for 6 of 12 months Industry Leaders in Safety
10. Service Momentum Dwell improved 13% to best levels ever Record Ethanol volumes moved in 2025 Velocity improved 10%
11. DRIVEN BY YOUR SUCCESS • 7 day/week Ethanol Desk proactively monitors your shipments • +75 years of railroading experience in our Commercial Team
12. COMPETITION
13. But Now, at a Crossroads
14. What Happens to Service? No merger has happened without service issues. A Major Debacle Union Pacific's attempts to put together the biggest railroad merger in history is fast becoming one of the industry's biggest debacles. With high hopes last year, the company bought Southern Pacific Rail Corp. for $3.9 billion and promised to begin merging the systems this summer into a seamless link between the West Coast and the Midwest. Instead, with amazing speed, the merger has unraveled in recent weeks into a series of service and safety snafus. Analysts estimate the carrier has already lost about $125 million
15. HIGHWAY CONVERSIONS SYNERGIES? The Rail Industry lost three share points to highway after 1990s era mergers.
16. STB Issues New Rules Governing Major Railroad Mergers & Consolidations
17. “In short, Applicants would face enormous post-merger pressure to divert traffic from existing RR-A interline service to RR-B single- line service using strategies that reduce shippers’ existing competitive options.” – UP Comments and Request for Conditions, Canadian Pacific Railway—Control—Kansas City Southern, FD Docket No. 36500, at 26
18. Only a small fraction of interline shipments eligible Rates in the highest 30% Limited time offering Committed Gateway Pricing Does Nothing for Competition
19. Opposition is Broad and Growing ~500 shippers who submitted letters of support for the UP-NS merger represent <6% of all rail cargo Groups representing the vast majority of rail cargo and workers strongly oppose the merger Rail Customer Coalition (representing +50% of all rail shipments) says it would give UP “a near monopoly power for which the manufacturers, farmers, energy producers and ultimately every American consumer would pay the price”
20. Competition Innovation Resiliency CUSTOMER- FOCUSED