Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific confirmed that CEO Lance Fritz will be leaving his role. The railroad is looking for a replacement.

Union Pacific reached sick leave agreements with the National Conference of Firemen and Oilers and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen over the weekend.

The Surface Transportation Board recently took action on Union Pacific’s use of embargoes in the Midwest and rejected the Class I railroads’ request to delay a program related to smaller rate disputes.

On Union Pacific’s list of resolutions for 2023 are plans to improve rail service, enhance quality of life for craft employees and achieve productivity gains, according to executives on the railroad’s fourth-quarter 2022 earnings call Tuesday.

Eight U.S. representatives from Iowa and Minnesota want the Surface Transportation Board to require Union Pacific to fix service issues and lift weather-related embargoes in the region.

Union Pacific’s proposed testing of one-person crews is on hold because the program can’t proceed without negotiations between the railroad and affected union members.

The Surface Transportation Board wants Union Pacific to address service hiccups at California’s Foster Farms. Also, CN reports rail traffic controllers have ratified a new collective agreement.

Following last week’s hearing on embargoes before the Surface Transportation Board, Union Pacific has decided to pause the program. Meanwhile, the board is considering what it can do to encourage rail volume growth.

STB Chairman Marty Oberman told UP it didn’t provide enough information on its embargo practices ahead of a two-day hearing next week.

Union Pacific executives said it wasn’t precision scheduled railroading but running the network too tightly that brought on the service issues.

Wabtec and Progress Rail selected as suppliers

Borderlands is a weekly rundown of developments in the world of United States-Mexico cross-border trucking and trade. This week: The TexAmericas Center looks to expand its rail transload business; Mexico’s exports of commercial trucks fell 11.3% in September; Bridgestone completes a $100 million expansion in Mexico, creating 150 jobs; and a cold storage facility is set for Southern California.

Elise Gosch, assistant VP of intermodal sales at Union Pacific, shares strategies the company has implemented throughout the pandemic to address shifting customer needs.

Reducing dwell times for equipment and at the terminals is one way the Class I railroads are seeking to relieve systemwide supply chain congestion, according to executives at recent investor conferences.

Adding or extending sidings, particularly on three key routes, will reduce delays and improve network fluidity, UP said.

Union Pacific is investigating why a train hauling 28 cars derailed in Minnesota as emergency responders contend with a hydrochloric acid leak.

Anticipated growth for intermodal will help to support Hub Group’s investments for that sector in 2021.

Union Pacific to open an intermodal terminal in Southern California, Port of South Louisiana completes rail yard, plus two appointments: Michael McCarthy to become SMBC Rail Services president and CEO, and Karen Carriere joins Transportation Technology Center Inc. as executive director of technical services.

“Every three hours in the United States, a person or vehicle is hit by a train,” said Operation Lifesaver director in an interview with FreightWaves.

The Surface Transportation Board will need to scrutinize a proposed merger between Kansas City Southern and either Canadian Pacific or CN to ensure it doesn’t hurt the operations of competing railroads, Union Pacific’s head said on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.