Case Study: BNSF Railway achieves near-real-time shipment visibility and 30% reduction in operational costs with Informatica

Connecting Communities with The Global Marketplace

BNSF Railway, one of North America’s largest freight carriers operating over 32,000 miles of track, needed to give customers and internal teams timely, accurate shipment information across a massive, complex fleet. Critical operational data was trapped in legacy transportation and mainframe systems, making real‑time visibility costly and slow and preventing the company from meeting rising customer expectations and preparing for a company‑wide SAP rollout.

BNSF implemented a scalable data‑integration platform using Informatica PowerCenter and PowerExchange to extract mainframe data and populate a high‑performance operational data store in near real time. The solution enabled web self‑service tracking with status accuracy within 15 minutes, customizable reports, broader use for traffic and schedule management, fewer customer calls, and a 30% reduction in operational costs by offloading legacy mainframes.

BNSF Railway

Jeff McIntyre

Assistant Vice President