BNSF Railway is set to invest $1bn to improve and expand rail capacity along its Northern Corridor between the Pacific Northwest and Chicago, US.

As part of BNSF’s $5bn new capital commitment plan that was announced in February, the investment will be used to expand rail capacity across North Dakota, Washington, Montana, Illinois and Minnesota, US.

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The company also plans to spend $1.6bn on locomotive, freight car and other equipment acquisitions, which will be put into service all across its network.

"Our capital investments along the Northern Corridor are critical to expanding our capacity to support the region’s rapidly growing economy, improving our ability to meet our customers’ expectations and ensuring our railroad remains the safest mode of ground transportation for freight."

BNSF Railway president and chief executive officer Carl Ice said: "Our capital investments along the Northern Corridor are critical to expanding our capacity to support the region’s rapidly growing economy, improving our ability to meet our customers’ expectations and ensuring our railroad remains the safest mode of ground transportation for freight."

The $400m investment in North Dakota will see maintenance projects such as surfacing and undercutting of more than 930 miles of track and replacing of 110 miles of rail and 330,000 ties and construction of a second mainline track between Minot and Glasgow, Montana.

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Of the $235m in investments for Washington, expansion projects include building of two new staging tracks near Everett, installation of a power switch at Anacortes, surfacing and undercutting of more than 1,200 miles of track and replacing approximately 60 miles of rail and more than 113,000 ties.

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Around $160m will be invested in Montana to extend track lengths, for train sidings and surfacing and undercutting of more than 900 miles of track and replacing about 60 miles of rail and more than 145,000 ties.

Projects in Illinois and Minnesota will receive investments of nearly $150m and $120m respectively.

In addition, BNSF will allocate around $30m in South Dakota, $50m in Wisconsin and $10m in Idaho for projects to expand capacity or maintain the network infrastructure.