The BNSF Railway (reporting mark BNSF), formerly known as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is one of the four remaining transcontinental railroads and one of the largest freight railroad networks in North America. Only the Union Pacific Railroad, its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight, is larger in size. With globalization, the transcontinental railroads are a key component in the transportation of containers from the Pacific Rim. The BNSF Railway moves more intermodal freight traffic than any other rail system in the world. It was formed December 31, 1996, as the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway was merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad. In 1999 BNSF and the Canadian National Railway announced their intention to merge and form a new corporation entitled the North American Railways to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The United States' Surface Transportation Board (STB) placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, which ended this merger. On January 24, 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to BNSF Railway.