WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have put a hold on their final environmental assessment of Union Pacific’s proposed 6-mile branch to a new industrial park being built outside Phoenix. The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis, in a decision released on Thursday, said it was delaying a decision indefinitely due to the discovery of “significant […]
Railroad: Union Pacific
Customs agency suspends BNSF and Union Pacific from anti-terrorism partnership
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has suspended BNSF Railway and Union Pacific from its Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program. The railroads’ certification was suspended for 90 days effective Aug. 22, BNSF and UP said in customer advisories. “We continue to work with our partners to ensure safety procedures are followed and that […]
UP says chemical lost from hopper car leaked away in transit
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific says its investigation into the disappearance of 30 tons of a chemical from a hopper car earlier this year indicates the material was lost in transit because of a leak during the trip from Cheyenne to California, KGWN-TV reports. The hopper loaded with ammonium nitrate — used as a fertilizer […]
Grain cars overturn in UP derailment in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas — Approximately 13 cars of grain derailed on a Union Pacific train in central El Paso this afternoon, closing an exit of Interstate 10, KFOX-TV reports. Three of the cars overturned, spilling a load reported to be soybean meal. No injuries are reported and no hazardous materials are involved, El Paso Fire […]
Union Pacific asks federal court to resolve CPKC trackage rights dispute
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked a federal court to declare that the railroad has no obligation to handle Canadian Pacific Kansas City grain trains via trackage rights between Beaumont, Texas, and the ports of Houston and Galveston. UP, which filed the complaint on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of […]
Union Pacific furloughs some shop and intermodal terminal workers as volume declines
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific furloughed 94 mechanical employees at shops across the system this week due to soft traffic volumes and a higher number of locomotives placed in storage. “As a routine part of business, we constantly examine our resources against volume needs. While some targeted furloughs are occurring in a handful of mechanical […]
Tropical storm hits UP line in Texas; repair work continues in California (second update)
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific is now dealing with flooding along Texas’ Gulf Coast as a result of Tropical Storm Harold, adding to the issues it continues to address in Southern California from Tropical Storm Hilary. In a Tuesday evening update to customers, UP said a 5-mile stretch of track was underwater in Corpus Christi, […]
Union Pacific reopens Mojave Subdivision as cleanup continues from Hilary flooding
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific reopened its Mojave Subdivision in Southern California today and continues to clean up the mess that tropical storm Hilary left on Sunday. The Mojave Sub, part of UP’s I-5 Corridor, suffered storm damage near Mojave as well as 10 miles north of Fontana. All tracks have been restored to service. […]
CPKC says Union Pacific aims to stifle competition for Gulf Coast grain
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific’s contention that Kansas City Southern can’t haul grain from the Upper Midwest to the Gulf Coast using trackage rights south of Beaumont, Texas, is “revisionist history,” Canadian Pacific Kansas City has told federal regulators. Earlier this month CPKC asked the Surface Transportation Board to enforce the trackage rights that KCS gained […]
Tropical storm flooding hits Union Pacific routes in Southern California
Tropical storm Hilary, the first to hit Southern California in 84 years, brought heavy rains and flooding that have shut down Union Pacific’s Mojave and Yuma subdivisions. Both subdivisions were out of service this morning due to water and mud over the tracks between Banning and Indio, Calif., on the Yuma Sub and near Mojave […]
Lionel Union Pacific 4-12-2
The 9000 class steam locomotive was developed by Alco and built between 1926 and 1930. As if the twelve connected drive wheels weren’t unique enough, the 9000 class featured a third cylinder under the boiler which operated a second drive axle. This inner cylinder used Gresley gearing since the cylinder did not feature valve gear. […]
Union Pacific asks regulators to reject CPKC trackage rights complaint
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific has asked federal regulators to toss out a complaint that Canadian Pacific Kansas City filed this month that would allow it to route grain trains to the ports of Houston and Galveston using trackage rights over UP south of Beaumont, Texas. CPKC told the Surface Transportation Board that UP is blocking […]