Property, plant and equipment

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2013

Note 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		September 30, 2013			December 31, 2012
Land		—	$	1,104		$	1,048
Buildings and improvements		2 – 40 years		6,261			6,074
Machinery and equipment		3 – 20 years		16,008			15,436
Furniture, fixtures and other		2 – 20 years		2,934			2,736
Assets held for lease		12 – 30 years		7,111			6,731

				33,418			32,025
Accumulated depreciation				(13,957	)		(12,837	)

			$	19,461		$	19,188

Depreciation expense of insurance and other businesses for the first nine months of 2013 and 2012 was $1,497 million and $1,443 million, respectively.

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


	Ranges of estimated useful life		September 30, 2013			December 31, 2012
Railroad:
Land		—	$	5,968		$	5,950
Track structure and other roadway		5 – 100 years		39,420			38,255
Locomotives, freight cars and other equipment		5 – 37 years		7,082			6,528
Construction in progress		—		1,112			963
Utilities and energy:
Utility generation, distribution and transmission system		5 – 80 years		43,899			42,682
Interstate pipeline assets		3 – 80 years		6,388			6,354
Independent power plants and other assets		3 – 30 years		2,424			1,860
Construction in progress		—		3,504			2,647

				109,797			105,239
Accumulated depreciation				(18,702	)		(17,555	)

			$	91,095		$	87,684

Railroad property, plant and equipment includes 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. Depreciation expense of the railroad, utilities and energy businesses for the first nine months of 2013 and 2012 was $2,403 million and $2,235 million, respectively.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets used in the normal conduct of business and not intended for resale. Includes, but is not limited to, accounting policies and methodology, roll forwards, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, including composite depreciation, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, useful lives and method used, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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