Property, plant and equipment and assets held for lease

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2015

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, plant and equipment and assets held for lease

Note 11. Property, plant and equipment and assets held for lease

Property, plant and equipment of our insurance and other businesses is summarized below (in millions).

	Range of   estimated useful life		June 30, 2015			December 31, 2014
Land		—	$	1,503			$	1,171
Buildings and improvements		2 – 40 years		7,216				6,600
Machinery and equipment		3 – 25 years		16,688				16,413
Furniture, fixtures and other		2 – 18 years		3,585				3,136
				28,992				27,320
Accumulated depreciation				(13,600	)			(13,167)
			$	15,392			$	14,153

Depreciation expense of insurance and other businesses for the first six months of 2015 and 2014 was $824 million and $797 million, respectively.

Property, plant and equipment of our railroad and our utilities and energy businesses is summarized below (in millions).

	Range of  estimated useful life		June 30,      2015		December 31,  2014
Railroad:
Land		—	$	6,024	$	5,983
Track structure and other roadway		7 – 100 years		44,054		42,588
Locomotives, freight cars and other equipment		6 – 40 years		10,414		9,493
Construction in progress		—		1,216		1,292
Utilities and energy:
Utility generation, distribution and transmission system		5 – 80 years		66,158		64,645
Interstate pipeline assets		3 – 80 years		6,711		6,660
Independent power plants and other assets		3 – 30 years		5,565		5,035
Construction in progress		—		4,413		5,194
				144,555		140,890
Accumulated depreciation				(27,332)		(25,836)
			$	117,223	$	115,054

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 six months of 2015 and 2014 was $2,155 million and $1,924 million, respectively.

Assets held for lease and property, plant and equipment of our finance and financial products businesses are summarized below (in millions).

	Range of  estimated useful life		June 30,   2015		December 31,  2014
Assets held for lease		5 – 30 years	$	10,137		$	9,810
Land		—		224			227
Buildings, machinery and other		3 – 50 years		1,189			1,179
				11,550			11,216
Accumulated depreciation				(3,286)			(3,179)
			$	8,264		$	8,037

Assets held for lease includes railcars, intermodal tank containers, cranes, over-the-road trailers, storage units and furniture. Depreciation expense of the finance and financial products businesses for the first six months of 2015 and 2014 was $296 million in each period.