'A lot to be done' with improving BNSF Railway operations, says Berkshire's Greg Abel

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett presides over the 2024 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Buffett answers shareholder question about BNSF Railway performance issues. Watch the full coverage of Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting on www.cnbc.com/.
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[@tinabeck5432]

I have a feeling during their "supply chain issues" they lost a lot of customers. It might help if they stopped restricting train speeds to 40 mph and stopped trying to run mega trains that derail. Their new attendance policy and how they treat emoyees also has probably had a huge effect on how sufficient and hard their employees work. Not to mention how they've again recently went on a furlough spree. Many probably won't go above and beyond for this company anymore. Management also has no idea how trains run and how to keep yards and lines from becoming congested. Every single management person should be required to ride along with crews for a month minimum to understand how the system works. Dispatch as well. But what do I know I'm just an engineers wife.

[@MrJack37575]

💯

[@patches8291]

The way they treat their employees is abominable, they literally get worse every single day. I would know, I’m one of them.

[@MrJack37575]

I Agree

[@bkh5746]

This abel guys greasy grifter.

[@raindogs451]

Buffett shows great insight, in the accumulation of the biggest holding company in memory, and then quite sensibly planning a transition that might stand the test of time. Time will tell if Greg, with his 2 lieutenants, can make a company for the ages. But more than a few people have commented that Buffet is keeping way more cash than needed (I get the Rock of Gibraltar thing; lender/ purchaser of last resort) and some people have commented that BH has gotten too big to deploy cash effectively; and should be distributed to shareholders. It wouldn’t stun me if BH under Greg either breaks up, or starts declaring dividends.

[@mathzniper]

Why does he keep saying “will look” instead of “have looked”? That doesn’t signal good preparation for an AGM.

[@TheNavyShark]

Start by ending throttle and power restrictions and start moving freight again. Customers are not happy that their product is being moved at 30mph when it should be 55mph or 70mph. You're charging them a fuel surge charge but intentionally not running the trains at track speed. It's the reason BNSF lost Schneider, Swift and UPS.

[@ConrailQuality775]

BNSF didn’t lose UPS

[@TheNavyShark]

@@ConrailQuality775 Yes they did, they didn't lose it all but they lost a good percentage of it.

[@do_regan]

Why do you think they're moving the freight at slower speeds? Are they scared of derailments or something?

[@bkh5746]

Lose swift your losing alot.i cant drive down the road without seeing a swift truck🤷🏻‍♂️

[@TheNavyShark]

@@bkh5746 schneider trucking was probably BNSF’s second biggest intermodal customer, behind JB Hunt. But due to how big JB was BNSF would always prioritize JB over Schneider and put their containers on slower trains, when they paid for expedited service, even though they could have been ran faster, they cared more about saving fuel. Schneider trains would sit at the yards longer than they had to be because, even during busy months, BNSF would cut/abolish yard jobs which took longer to unload trailers than BNSF won’t admit it but Katie Farmer’s BNSF is practicing Precision Scheduling Railroading, even though the last CEO/President told Farmer do not practice PSR as it would be the end of BNSF being the leader and setting industry standard in railroad transportation, and he was right. It’s more about saving fuel and dwell time on railroad cars than actually moving and delivering freight.

[@MrJack37575]

Come on out and see... The management is horrible.. They couldn't run a train around a Christmas tree. 31 years, and it's only gotten worse. Just my opinion. But I live it every day

[@MrJack37575]

Not to mention, T.O. is a joke, and now trip planner. I thought with technology it was supposed to get better? Neither system is worth a 💩..

[@magalengo]

Like most large bureaucracies, the people on the front lines actually doing the job are totally ignored.

[@matthewm8289]

So many mistakes in railways, they should hire me, i will sort it all out easily. Very simple changes need to be made to increase profits.

[@MrCeb138]

Hedge funds have ruined the Class 1’s

[@BuonoBruttoCattivo77]

Basically, woops we should have implemented psr

[@amatuer2]

Have a look at CNR. Canadian National Railway. I have owned it for 18 years and regularly buy more and have been rewarded. It is well managed and has a moat. Services Canada & the USA.

[@magalengo]

Yeah, they have been saying that for several years, and the results keep getting worse. Plenty of excuses blaming macro-factors. For over a decade they kept saying how BNSF was superior to UNP. But if you look at the net profits over the last 10 years for BNSF versus UNP, the results are laughable.

[@TheNavyShark]

BNSF does practice PSR, they just won't admit it.

[@jinglebells1020]

More furloughs are coming, and they should start at the top, not the bottom. Maybe they should watch the movie office space and get an idea of what to do. 😮😂😂😂

[@2cartalkers]

Can't buy BNSF stock, it is private. BOOOOOO!

[@nathanpatera9836]

Berkshire Hathaway fully owns BNSF. you can buy Berkshire B (and A if you have the money) to have stake in it.

[@magalengo]

Union Pacific and CNI are far superior profit makers to BNSF, I would start looking there.

[@user-ze5vr7jz8w]

Bnfs is worse 👎👎