Let them eat coal & oil: $41 million suit thrown at BSNF Rail after failed fruit transport venture
A small company that transported Washington state fruit to East Coast markets on rail cars has taken on industry behemoth BNSF Railroad in a $41 million lawsuit.
Spokane-based Cold Train has filed for damages against BNSF in U.S. District Court in Spokane. The suit claims that unplanned schedule changes by BNSF compromised Cold Train’s business and eventually forced it to stop service.
In the six months leading up to April 2014, BNSF on-time performance dropped from an average of 90 percent to 5 percent, Cold Train claims. This caused disruptions in Cold Train’s ability to deliver fruit and produce from its hub in Quincy, Wash., to points in Chicago and further east. Cold Train ceased operations in August of 2014.
In a statement, BNSF said the claims in the suit are unfounded.
“BNSF has not been served with the complaint, and cannot categorically comment on allegations we have yet to see,” the statement said. “But any suggestion that BNSF would intentionally seek to cause harm to any customer runs completely contrary to how BNSF conducts business. BNSF is dedicated to customer satisfaction and growing our network to meet customer demand.”
Cold Train claims the slowdowns were caused by a spike in coal and oil trains, which took away usable BNSF capacity, despite BNSF assurances to the contrary.
http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/morning_call/2015/04/41-million-suit-thrown-at-bsnf-rail-after-failed.html?ana=e_sea_rdup&s=newsletter&ed=2015-04-08&u=ColXVN5SPzQtLHFP87ho2w07857290&t=1428513320
