Rail Grinding

Rail grinding is a maintenance activity conducted on railroad tracks that is designed to remove irregularities and imperfections from the track in order to allow for faster travel speeds on the track and to increase the lifespan of tracks.

a. Using the Conceptual Framework, evaluate whether the cost of rail grinding activities should be capitalized as an asset or reported as an expense.

b. Using SEC.gov, company filings, full text search, look for disclosures from companies in the industry to bench- mark how the industry treats these costs.

c. Also using SEC.gov, search for CORRESP between the SEC and BNSF railroad. Describe the SECs position on this issue.