BNSF Railway reviews

3.1

44% would recommend to a friend

(2,427 total reviews)
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Kathryn Farmer

42% approve of CEO

46% positive business outlook

BNSF Railway has an employee rating of 3.1 out of 5 stars, based on 2,427 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The BNSF Railway employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Transportation & Logistics industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
3.0
Feb 22, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Paychecks are on time and they never bounce. Insurance is good although that is becoming a sore subject. Bonues were good and measured fairly, but that may be going away soon as well. Being able to move is an option if youy choose, or stay in one place is an option as well. If you choose to move the opportunities are better for career development.

Cons

If you are a female with a college education, miniority background and maybe even have some military background, you are in. If you do not have these qualities (white male), best of luck to you. If you have college, you skip the ground level jobs and go right into management, taking care of 30 year veterans and telling them how to work safely and efficiently (How can they know??). If you do not move, management looks at that as you will never move and may overlook you for a position. If you do not have these qualities (Female, College, Military, Minority), you will have a tougher time getting "UP" in the company. They higher many, many, many college grads and tell them all they can be the next CEO, and after 18 months if they havent made a contribution to the company, it is on to the next group of college grads... Be aware...

1.0
Feb 19, 2011

Disconnected, and out of touch

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you enjoy small work teams (i.e. Conductor and Engineer or both and Brakeman) that can agree on issuses and make decisions without violating rules or laws, and be safe about it, then this may be a great opportunity. For the most part, your individual skills, knowledge and level of competence could allow you to tolerate the duties that are planned. You have to opportunity to be on stage within any given community as a professional train crew weather switching in yard settings or transporting freight over the BNSF system. It's nice to know that the trust of the general public and those that are closely related to the industry are observing the unique talents and abilities to handle sometimes very dangerous and important freight.

Cons

With such a major demand on transporting by rail, an individual is made available at all times, with respect to the union agreements; when legally rested and available. Therefore, at times to have a fairly normal life style could be tricky. A typical work schedule may include but not limited to being away from home for 24 hours or more working on the road trips or 12 hours maximum working in the yards. You are required to get 10 hours of rest and made available to work when your rest time has expired; again with respect to the local union agreements. An individual with a very active life style could have trouble meeting this schedule, as extra-board workers are on call. If you are fortunate enough to get an assigned duty with set hours, concider yourself lucky, although the demand could disregard the 8 hours alloted to do your job therefore overtime sometimes is manditory and not optioned. If your not an outside all weather person, this is not the employment opportunity to concider. Granted there are office jobs, the high stress and demand and long hours could pose health issuses.

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Glassdoor has 2,634 BNSF Railway reviews submitted anonymously by BNSF Railway employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if BNSF Railway is right for you.