The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway

 

On September 25, 1995 agreement was reached to merger the Burlington Northern Inc. and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation. The two were holding companies for the Burlington Northern Railroad and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The merger agreement created the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Corporation. It also called for the two railroads to combine operations over a period of time before a formal merger was complete. This allowed time for the new holding company to operate the BN and AT&SF as separate railroads while the details of final combination were complete. On December 31, 1996 the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway would start the new year as a fully integrated railroad thus ending the long history of ATSF and the quarter century of BN.