Property, plant and equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

(10)

Property, plant and equipment

Property, plant and equipment of our insurance and other businesses is comprised of the following (in millions).


	Ranges of estimated useful life		December 31,
	Ranges of estimated useful life		2011			2010
Land		—	$	940		$	744
Buildings and improvements		3 – 40 years		5,429			4,661
Machinery and equipment		3 – 25 years		13,589			11,573
Furniture, fixtures and other		2 – 20 years		2,397			1,932
Assets held for lease		12 – 30 years		5,997			5,832

				28,352			24,742
Accumulated depreciation				(10,175	)		(9,001	)

			$	18,177		$	15,741

Assets held for lease consist primarily of railroad tank cars, intermodal tank containers and other equipment in the transportation and equipment services businesses of Marmon. As of December 31, 2011, the minimum future lease rentals to be received on the equipment lease fleet (including rail cars leased from others) were as follows (in millions): 2012 – $674; 2013 – $510; 2014 – $361; 2015 – $250; 2016 – $160; and thereafter – $248.

Property, plant and equipment of our railroad, utilities and energy businesses is comprised of the following (in millions).


	Ranges of estimated useful life	December 31,
	Ranges of estimated useful life	2011			2010
Railroad:
Land	—	$	5,925		$	5,901
Track structure and other roadway	5 – 100 years		36,760			35,463
Locomotives, freight cars and other equipment	5 – 37 years		5,533			4,329
Construction in progress	—		885			453
Utilities and energy:
Utility generation, distribution and transmission system	5 – 80 years		40,180			37,643
Interstate pipeline assets	3 – 80 years		6,245			5,906
Independent power plants and other assets	3 – 30 years		1,106			1,097
Construction in progress	—		1,559			1,456

			98,193			92,248
Accumulated depreciation			(15,979	)		(14,863	)

		$	82,214		$	77,385

Railroad property, plant and equipment include the land, other roadway, track structure and rolling stock (primarily locomotives and freight cars) of BNSF. The utility generation, distribution and transmission system and interstate pipeline assets are the regulated assets of public utility and natural gas pipeline subsidiaries.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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