BNSF's projected capital improvement spending less than half of 2015 levels

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway plans to spend around $130 million on capital improvements in 2016, but that's much less than the railway company spent the year before.

The company — which operates more miles of rail in Minnesota than any other railroad — spent $326 million in 2015.

Traffic is down this year across the BNSF system. The higher spending last year was in response to increased rail traffic, including more oil trains from North Dakota, said BNSF spokesperson Amy McBeth.

"When you look at our plan this year it reflects the fact that we've had significant investments and we've addressed those capacity issues and we're continuing to focus on the need to continually maintain our network," she said.

The biggest share of spending this year will be on maintaining and replacing rail, ties and ballast, McBeth said. The company will also install equipment to prepare the system for Positive Train Control, an automated safety system.

McBeth said BNSF has spent $550 million in Minnesota in the past three years.

Systemwide, BNSF will spend $4.3 billion this year, compared with $6 billion last year. In 2014, BNSF spent $5 billion across the country, an increase from the previous year's capital spending of $4.1 billion.