Commitments and Contingencies Insurance (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 1,969	$ 1,984
Insurance recoveries	250
Commercial Paper, Bank Time Deposits, and Money Market Funds \| BNSF Insurance Company
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]
Cash and cash equivalents	$ 531	$ 492

Amount of currency on hand as well as demand deposits with banks or financial institutions. Includes other kinds of accounts that have the general characteristics of demand deposits. Also includes short-term, highly liquid investments that are both readily convertible to known amounts of cash and so near their maturity that they present insignificant risk of changes in value because of changes in interest rates. Excludes cash and cash equivalents within disposal group and discontinued operation.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 4
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121586364&loc=d3e3044-108585

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=121566466&loc=d3e6676-107765

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
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