Sanborn on Friday was named regional vice president of transportation for UP’s Western Region. She will move into the new role on Feb. 16, replacing the retiring Richard Castagna, UP says.
“Cindy is a rail pioneer with an excellent performance track record that aligns with Union Pacific’s focus on teamwork, high ethical standards and passion for performance,” CEO Lance Fritz says. “She will build upon our Western Region’s successes in world-class safety, service and efficiency.”
Sanborn was one of the first women in the industry to hold an executive-level operations position. She spent her entire career at CSX, where she rose through the ranks.
UP’s Western Region, based in Roseville, Calif., includes 10,000 miles of track in eight states.
CSX on Oct. 25 announced that its top operations, marketing, and legal officers would depart the railroad in November. E. Hunter Harrison, then CSX’s chief executive, brought in former Canadian National colleague Jim Foote to head both operations and the sales and marketing teams.
Such a one-day sweep of top executives was unprecedented, rail historians say.
Harrison, who implemented broad changes at CSX, died in December after a little more than eight months on the job. Foote was named to succeed him.
