WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board today closed the book on its investigation of Union Pacific’s record use of congestion-related embargoes in 2022 – but not before scolding the railroad for failing to comply with board orders and requests for information. “UP’s conduct in this regard bordered on the contumacious and cannot be viewed as […]
Nebraska’s U.S. Route 30 LOCATION: Trains Columnist Don Phillips prescribed driving Nebraska’s U.S. Route 30 along the Union Pacific main line as an antidote for the 1970s railroad blues (“Solace on Highway 30,” October 1978). For all that has changed in 45 years, the railroad is still Union Pacific and it always puts on a […]
CHAPPELL, Neb. — Approximately 30 cars of a Union Pacific intermodal train derailed Sunday in the town of Chappell, leading to the short-term evacuation of a few residents as a precautionary measure and closing U.S. Route 30 for about two hours. KNOP-TV reports the incident was reported about 5:30 p.m., and that an evacuation of […]
McNEIL, Ark. — A member of a Union Pacific work crew was killed Thursday while repairing a washout on the railroad, KSLA-TV reports. The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office reports Danny Brent Wilkins, 43, of Rison, Ark., was struck and killed by machinery during repairs after two days of heavy rains. He was declared dead at […]
Four railroads have filed lawsuits in federal court to block the Federal Railroad Administration’s requirement for two-person crews for most freight trains, the Associated Press reports. Union Pacific, BNSF Railway, the Indiana Rail Road, and Florida East Coast Railway filed individual suits this week in different appellate courts, all saying the rule is arbitrary, capricious, […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific is not preserving dispatching information relevant to its handling of the Sunset Limited, Amtrak has claimed in a new filing with the Surface Transportation Board that asks the board to order UP to show cause why the railroad is not complying with an STB order to do so. The “petition to […]
DENVER — A bill that includes provisions to protect rail lines for Colorado’s proposed Denver-Craig rail service, even if coal traffic drops below sustainable levels, has cleared its first step in the state Senate. SB24-190, sponsored by Sen. Dylan Roberts (D-Frisco), also enhances the ability of the state to sell the Moffat Tunnel, which it […]
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Evolving plans for this year’s tour by Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 now call for the locomotive to make what the railroad is calling its “Westward Bound Tour” beginning Sunday, June 30, traveling to Roseville, Calif., and returning to its home base in Cheyenne by the end of July. At this […]
WASHINGTON — Union Pacific is seeking more time to address one aspect of the Surface Transportation Board case regarding issues with on-time performance of the Sunset Limited. In a filing earlier this week, the railroad requested a 90-day extension to address “narrative explanations of the root cases” of specific delays of 90 minutes or more […]
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific Kansas City says it has shippers lined up to export grain through the ports of Houston and Galveston, but they’re awaiting a regulatory decision regarding whether unit trains can move over Union Pacific trackage rights south of Beaumont, Texas. CPKC told the Surface Transportation Board last week that it has four […]
CHICAGO — One of the last industries still receiving freight rail service in downtown Chicago — and one that gave its neighborhood a distinct aroma — is calling it quits. Blommer Chocolate will close its factory at 600 W. Kinzie Street at the end of May because of the increasing costs of running a facility […]
OMAHA — Union Pacific has announced the retirement of three executives, along with a series of appointments to new positions. Retiring are Shane Keller, senior vice president-operations, Northern Region; David Giandinoto, senior vice president-operations, Southern Region; and Lee Myers, assistant vice president-risk management, law. Keller has spent 33 years at UP, joining as an operations […]
