The
Union Pacific Railroad (
reporting mark UP) is a
Class I line haul freight railroad that operates nearly 9,000 locomotives over 32,000 route-miles in 23 states west of
Chicago, Illinois and
New Orleans, Louisiana. The Union Pacific Railroad network is the largest in the United States and is serviced by more than 50,000 employees.
[1]
Union Pacific Corporation's main competitor is the
BNSF Railway, the nation's second largest freight railroad, which also primarily services the Continental U.S. west of the Mississippi River. Together, the two railroads have a
duopoly on all transcontinental freight rail lines in the U.S.
The current chairman of Union Pacific Corporation is Lance Fritz.
[2]
History
Subsequently, UP took over three
Mormon-built roads: the
Utah Central Railroad extending south from Ogden to
Salt Lake City, the
Utah Southern Railroad extending south from Salt Lake City into the
Utah Valley, and the
Utah Northern Railroad extending north from Ogden into
Idaho. It built or absorbed local lines that gave it access to
Denver,
Colorado, to
Portland, Oregon, and to the
Pacific Northwest and acquired the
Kansas Pacific (originally called the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, though in essence a separate railroad). It also owned narrow gauge trackage into the heart of the Colorado Rockies and a standard gauge line south from Denver across
New Mexico into Texas (both parts of the
Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway).
Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad gather on the 100th
meridian, which later became
Cozad, Nebraska, approximately 250 miles (400 km) west of
Omaha,
Nebraska Territory, in October 1866. The train in the background awaits the party of Eastern capitalists, newspapermen, and other prominent figures invited by the railroad executives.
UP was entangled in the
Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872, that involved bribing congressmen and stock speculations. Its early troubles led to bankruptcy during the 1870s, the result of which was reorganization of the Union Pacific Railroad as the Union Pacific Railway on January 24, 1880, with its dominant stockholder being
Jay Gould. The new company also declared bankruptcy, in 1893, but emerged on July 1, 1897, reverting to the original name, Union Pacific Railroad.
The corporate headquarters of the Union Pacific Corporation were located in New York City from its initial founding in the 1860s until Drew Lewis became CEO in the mid-1980s. He relocated it to
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Later the headquarters was shifted to Dallas, Texas, before relocating to Omaha to join the operating headquarters.
[6]
Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles
| Year | Traffic |
|---|
| 1925 | 1,065 |
| 1933 | 436 |
| 1944 | 5,481 |
| 1960 | 1,233 |
| 1970 | 333 |
Source: ICC annual reports
In the tables "UP" includes OSL-OWR&N-LA&SL-StJ&GI; 1925–1944 passenger-mile totals do not include Laramie North Park & Western, Saratoga & Encampment Valley, or Pacific & Idaho Northern, and none of the totals includes Spokane International or Mount Hood. From the ICC annual reports, except 1979 is from
Moody's.
Revenue freight ton-miles (millions)
| UP | LNP&W | S&EV | P&IN |
|---|
| 1925 | 12,869 | 10 | | 3 |
|---|
| 1933 | 8,639 | 4 | 0.4 | (into UP) |
|---|
| 1944 | 37,126 | 7 | 0.7 |
|---|
| 1960 | 33,280 | (into UP) | (into UP) |
|---|
| 1970 | 47,575 |
|---|
| 1979 | 73,708 |
|---|
On December 31, 1925 UP-OSL-OWRN-LA&SL-StJ&GI operated 9,834 route-miles and 15,265 track-miles. At the end of 1980, Union Pacific operated 9,266 route-miles and 15,647 miles of track.
[7] Moody's shows 220,697 million revenue ton-miles in 1993 on the expanded system (17,835 route-miles at the end of the year).
Union Pacific Corporation
Union Pacific Corporation is the publicly traded parent company of all UP subsidiaries and operating companies, including Union Pacific Railroad Company (the largest operating company) and Southern Pacific Rail Corporation. Union Pacific Corporation was incorporated in Utah in 1969.
[10] Union Pacific Corporation's headquarters are located in Omaha, Nebraska. Lance M. Fritz is the current Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
[citation needed]
Facilities
Because of the large size of UP, hundreds of yards throughout its rail network are needed to effectively handle the daily transport of goods from one place to another. To reduce overall emissions, Union Pacific is acquiring a new generation of environmentally friendly locomotives for use in Los Angeles basin rail yards.
[citation needed]
Active hump yards
Hump yards work by using a small hill over which cars are pushed, before being released down a slope and switched automatically into cuts of cars, ready to be made into outbound trains. Union Pacific's active hump yards include:
[13]
- Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska
- Beaumont Yard in Beaumont, Texas
- Davidson Yard in Fort Worth, Texas
- Davis Yard in Roseville, California
- Englewood Yard in Houston, Texas
- Gateway Yard in East St Louis, Illinois
- Hinkle Yard in Hermiston, Oregon
- Livonia Yard in Livonia, Louisiana
- Neff Yard in Kansas City, Missouri
- North Little Rock Yard in North Little Rock, Arkansas
- Pine Bluff Yard in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
- Proviso Yard in Northlake, Illinois, formerly owned by Chicago and North Western Transportation Company
- Strang Yard in La Porte, Texas
- West Colton Yard in Bloomington, California
