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t r a n s p o r t t i p s c o n t i n u e d service logs to track customer issues, including low inventories. It is also proac- tively communicating with its customers and updating them on their efforts to deliver more coal. Tower 55, near Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the nation's busiest rail intersec- tions. The Tower 55 capacity project is of particular importance for the peak season. As many as 100 passenger and freight trains pass the area every day. The new configuration can accommodate up to 135 trains per day, compared to a maximum of 110 a year ago. Now that this project is complete, 20-plus trains per day no longer require regular rerouting. Most of the extra crews needed for rerouting trains returned to their regular service units. The comple- tion of this project also means that UP has freed-up network capacity where the Tower 55 rerouted trains were operating. (WCTL is specifically opposed to this pro- ject, claiming it will disrupt traffic flows by routing loaded coal trains through Kansas City and empty coal trains south and west around Fort Worth, thereby lengthening already slow cycle times.) BNSF: Is Not, Will Not Meet Coal Demand BNSF is currently moving large volumes of coal, agriculture and crude oil across its network, particularly in their northern operating region. Even though corn prices are down sharply from 2013, BNSF expects these large volumes to continue for the rest of the year and into 2015. They also expect that the customary seasonal demand patterns seen in previous years will continue. Through August, BNSF units were up 1.8% compared to the same peri- od a year earlier. Industrial products volumes have grown about 5% this year through August compared to the same period last year, pri- marily driven by the strength of energy- related commodities, most notably crude oil and frac sand. Volume growth is expect- ed to trend upward in the remaining months of the year led by the aforemen- tioned commodities. BNSF currently serves a number of crude oil unit train facilities servicing several western shale plays — 31 origin facilities and 34 destination facilities — with several more origin/destination facilities under development. They cur- rently have about 180 active crude unit train sets in service; these are expected to November 2014 www.coalage.com 23