Union Pacific has suffered another vote of no-confidence. Texas industries, authorities and railways have asked the Surface Transportation Board to give them control over some UP assets. Burlington Northern Santa Fé has sent in a similar request of its own. (July 9th)
The STB approved the Conrail deal on Monday the 8th. CSX and Norfolk Southern may split Conrail on three conditions:
Union Pacific claims that it's railways are no longer jammed. Not many people seem to agree; the UP has been clogged for over a half year now. (May 8th)
The problems at UPRR are getting even worse; UP has stopped accepting shipments to Mexico, with the exception of automotive. This is due to derailments and bad weather. Further, Dow Chemical has sued, and the Federal Railroad Administration and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers accuse UP of putting in drivers partially unfamiliar with the lines they work. (March 26th/29th)
Union Pacific has announced that the jam has become a crisis. Heavy rains and blizzards have slowed the already clogged network and if the situation is not resolved in 30 days, UP will have to temporarily pause shipments and transfer more work to other railroads. (March 12th, more here)
Union Pacific, the traffic jammed American railroad, has hade its emergency service order extended until Aug. 2 by the Surface Transportation Board late last month. The order extends BNSF's and the Tex Mex railroad's rights to run trains and serve customers on the UP network. (March 9th, more here)
UP and BSNF have agreed to start a joint despatching centre in Houston. BNSF had earlier this week threatened to ask the Surface Transportation Board to snatch former Southern Pacific, which UP bought 1˝ years ago, from the UP network. This would have been in an effort to come to grips with the jam at UP. Meanwile, a seasonal increase in traffic is coming in March.
However, Kansas City Southern filed a petition on Thursday with the Surface Transportation Board. Like the earlier Texas Railroad Commission's plan, this proposal calls for Union Pacific to sell its Houston-to-Beaumont and Houston-to-Victoria rail lines its seldom-used Booth Yard in the Ship Channel area to KCS. (February 14th, more here, and here)
Ahead of a meeting on Friday the 13th concerning the jam on UP, spokesperson said UP will spend $570 million on capacity expansion in Texas and Louisiana and launch an inquiry into what went wrong. The study will be ready by the summer. Total capital spending on UP's network will remain basically unchanged in 1998. (February 13th, more here)
A public hearing concerning the jam on Union Pacific will be held on March 18-20 in in Springfield, Virginia. The Surface Transportation Board wants to examine both the railroad and government oversight of Union Pacific. (February 13th, more here)
Meanwhile, the UPRR has proposed joint despatching in Houston, in co-operation with BNSF and Kansas City Southern. UP says joint despatching would provide near and long-term congestion relief. KCS says it prefers a similar plan put forth by the Texas Railroad Commission. (February 9th/7th, more here)
The STB has rejected BNSF's proposal to ease restrictions on serving certain customers on Union Pacific's network. The customers in question are those who have less choice of railroad since the merger of Union and Southern Pacific. Also see continuing jams on Union Pacific RR. (January 26th, more here)
Another derailment on the UPRR occurred on Sunday in San Joaquin County, California, at about 11pm. Twenty-four double-stack container cars derailed and spilled latex paint, candy bars, some toilets and office supplies. Residents near the line had phoned UP's 1-800 safety line four hours before, they were concerned about unusual noises from the trains. (January 22nd, more here)
The Surface Transportation Board has asked shippers to submit information on the jam at Union Pacific. STB will then consider if it can do anything more about the jam. (January 21st, more here)
The jam at UPRR persists, with average train speeds during the first week this year falling to 12 mph, well below the 17 mph recorded a year ago. UPs problems have lasted more than a half year. But intermodal service between Chicago and Texas is being restored in phases. Service had been suspended while UP sorted out the congestion on its network that started last summer. (January 15th, more here and here)
Union Pacific's Salt Lake City maintenance shop will be shut down by the summer, as part of a reorganization of its locomotive maintenance facilities in the western United States. Most jobs in the shop will be relocated. (January 8th, more here)
Union Pacific has to let other railroads on its tracks until March 15th, the Surface Transportation Board has ruled. The STB thinks UP can't sort out its jam on its own. Several crops are spoiling due to delays at UP. And on Thursday the 4th, 13 of 120 coal cars derailed. (December 8th, more here)
Twenty-four cars derailed on Union Pacific in Ceres, California on Tuesday morning. Traffic resumed past the site at 22:00 the same evening, and the track is expected to be back to normal by today. The accident comes as UP strives to prove it is a safe railway that can run trains on time. (November 13th, source Altamont Press Newsline)
The UPRR has lost the American Army's business in transporting defence equipment. The last straw for the army was that UP had left a (delayed) shipment of tanks unguarded. (November 10th, more here)
Another bad crash on UP, this time outside Houston, Texas, has further undermined confidence in the railroad. Four of the five locos in the collision were destroyed and all four crew had to be taken to hospital after jumping from the trains. Read more about UPs problems here and here. (October 28th, source Altamont Press Newsline)
American Union Pacific has suspended Chicago - Texas intermodal service in an effort to free up resources to reduce congestion on the network. (October 23rd, more here)
Union Pacific has dropped plans to charter a ship to move 660 containers from Los Angeles to Savannah on the Atlantic Coast. Plan B is to alleviate heavy congestion on the UPRR by having other railroads move 40 000 cars off the UP network. More UP News. (October 6th, more here)
The UP is using the Panama Canal to unclog its midwestern network. One ship will carry 660 containers from Los Angeles, on the Pacific coast, to Savannah, on the Atlantic coast. The Union Pacific Railroad has had capacity problems since the summer, when fatal derailments wreacked havoc on traffic. Things were supposed to improve after September 16th, when the former Southern Pacific Railroad was fully integrated with UP operations. UP now says that some improvement should occur by late October. (September 30th, more here)
BNSF has offered competitor UP help with driving trains in Texas. This as a result of BNSF's cars being delayed in the UP's trains, which get stuck in congestion around Houston. This would require the Surface Transportation Board to extend BNSF's trackage rights on the UP network. On September 16th, UP incorporated the former Southern Pacific's tracks, crews and equipment into the UP system. This should alleviate congestion. (September 22nd, more here)
Union Pacific will test a new way of scheduling crews in the midwest as a way of coming to grips with safety and fatigue problems. The new scheduling methods are supposed to make working hours more predictable. <