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BNSF Railway Co. is ratcheting up pressure on Congress to postpone a deadline for installing a safety system by the end of the year, saying it would probably have to halt freight and passenger traffic if the requirement isn’t delayed.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe, the largest U.S. crude-by-rail carrier, is offering lower rates to lug oil in cars that meet the latest federal specifications issued in May.

A 37% rebound in oil prices will boost crude-by-rail shipments as drillers complete more wells and extract more crude that U.S. pipelines don’t have the capacity to handle, Burlington Northern Santa Fe executive chairman Matthew Rose said June 15.

BNSF Railway Co., the largest hauler of crude by rail, moved ahead of U.S. peers in the push for safety by reducing oil-carrying train speeds beyond an agreement last year between regulators and the railroads.

BNSF Railway Co. was sued by a trade group for 400 U.S. refining and petrochemical makers objecting to a $1,000 surcharge the nation’s biggest rail transporter of crude oil tacked onto older-model tank cars.

Railroad companies are struggling to keep up with surging U.S. demand for trucks and sport utility vehicles, frustrating Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. and prompting Warren Buffett to boost investments at his rail unit.

BNSF Railway Co. is reconsidering a plan to buy 5,000 oil-tank cars built to new safety standards after some customers voiced concern about the initiative.

BNSF Railway Co., the railroad owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., plans to spend a record $6 billion next year to help speed trains and improve service crimped by surging grain and oil shipments.