Misplaced Pages

Union Pacific Railroad: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 03:17, 28 January 2006 editEvolauxia (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, IP block exemptions10,004 editsmNo edit summary← Previous edit Latest revision as of 07:06, 27 December 2024 edit undoSully 2345 (talk | contribs)277 edits →Notable accidents and safety 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Class I freight railroad in the United States}}
{{Infobox SG rail|
railroad_name=Union Pacific Railroad| {{Redirect|Union Pacific}}
{{See also|History of the Union Pacific Railroad}}
logo_filename=Upshield.gif|
{{Use American English|date=November 2023}}
logo_size=100|
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
marks=UP, UPP, UPY, MP, DRGW, SP, MKT, CNW, SSW, WP, CMO, CGW, MSTL|
{{Infobox rail
locale=] from ], and cities along the ] to the ] coast|
| railroad_name = Union Pacific Railroad
start_year=]|
| logo = Union pacific railroad logo.svg
end_year=present|
| logo_size = 150
old_gauge=|
| system_map = Union Pacific Railroad system map.svg
hq_city=]
| map_caption = System map (] in purple)
| image = Union Pacific Eastbound near Inland California (29321095583).jpg
| image_size = 250
| image_caption = UP 2723 leading a train eastbound near inland ].
| marks = UP (road locomotives), UPP (passenger cars), UPY (yard locomotives)
| key_people ={{indented plainlist|
*]<br /> Vice President & General Manager (1863-1869)
*]<br /> Primary financier (1866-1871)
*],<br />Chief Engineer (1866-1870)
*],<br />Chairman of the Board (1898-1909) & President (1901-1909)
}} }}
{{Infobox | decat = yes | child = yes
The '''Union Pacific Railroad''' {{nyse|UNP}} is the largest ] in the ]. Its primary ] ] is '''UP'''. ] is president and CEO of the Railroad.
| title =
| label2= Founder
| data2 =]
}}
{{Infobox | decat = yes | child = yes
| title =
| label2= CEO
| data2 = Jim Vena
}}
| locale = ], ] and ] United States
| start_year = 1862
| end_year = present
* First company, Union Pacific Rail Road: 1862–1880
* Second company, Union Pacific Railway: 1880–1897
* Third company, Union Pacific Railroad (Mark I): 1897–1998
* Fourth company, Union Pacific Railroad (Mark II): 1969–present (originally ] until 1998; renamed Union Pacific during UP-SP merger)<ref>{{Cite web |title=EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION Union Pacific Railroad Company Southern Pacific Transportation Company |url=https://secure.rrb.gov/pdf/bcd/bcd98-38.pdf |publisher=Railroad Retirement Board |access-date=February 5, 2022 |archive-date=June 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608231705/https://secure.rrb.gov/pdf/bcd/bcd98-38.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| gauge = {{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
| length = {{convert|32100|mi}}
| parent_company= ]
| website = {{URL|https://www.up.com/index.htm|up.com}}
|headquarters=], ], United States}}
The '''Union Pacific Railroad''' {{Reporting mark|UP|UPP|UPY}} is a ] freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over {{convert|32200|mi}} routes in 23 ]s west of ] and ]. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after ], with which it shares<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 31, 2013 |title=Company Overview |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/corporate_info/uprrover/index.htm |access-date=March 27, 2014 |publisher=Union Pacific Corporation}}</ref> a ] on transcontinental freight rail lines in the ], ] and ] United States.


The Union Pacific's route map covers most of the central and western United States, westward of ] and ]. It has achieved this size thanks to purchasing a large number of other railroads; notable purchases include the ], ], ], ], and ] (which itself was purchased by the ] before UP purchased it). Founded in 1862, the original '''Union Pacific Rail Road''' was part of the ] project, later known as the ]. Over the next century, UP absorbed the ], the ], the ] and the ]. In 1995, the Union Pacific merged with ], completing its reach into the ]. In 1996, the company merged with ], itself a giant system that was absorbed by the ]. The '''Union Pacific Railroad Company''' is the principal operating company of ], which are both headquartered at the ], in ].


==History==
Union Pacific's chief competitor is the ], which covers much of the same territory.
{{Main|History of the Union Pacific Railroad}}


===Union Pacific in the 19th century===
== History ==
{{See also|First transcontinental railroad}}
]
The Union Pacific Railroad was incorporated on ], ] in the wake of the ]. The first rails were laid in ]. They were part of the railroads which came together at ] in ] as the ]. Subsequently the Union Pacific took over the ] extending south from ] through ], and the ], extending from Ogden through ] into ], and it built or absorbed local lines, which gave it access to ] and to ], and the ]. It acquired the ] (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 ] into ].
Union Pacific was entangled in the ] of ]. The railroad's early troubles led to ] during the 1870s, the result of which was reorganization of the Union Pacific Railroad as the Union Pacific Railway on ], ]. The new company also declared bankruptcy, in ], but emerged on ], ], reverting again to the original name, Union Pacific Railroad. Such minor changes in corporate titles were a common result of reorganization after bankruptcy among American railroads. The recovered railroad was strong enough to take control of ] in 1901 and then was ordered in 1913 by the ] to surrender control of the same. The Union Pacific Railroad also founded the ] resort in ]. In ], the UP finally acquired the Southern Pacific Railroad in a transaction that was envisioned nearly a century earlier.


The original company, the "Union Pacific Rail Road", was incorporated on July 1, 1862, under the ]. President ] had approved the act, which authorized railroad construction from the ] to the Pacific to ensure the stability of the Union throughout the ],<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527113235/http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Pacific_Railroad_Acts.html |date=May 27, 2016 }} 12 Stat. 489, July 1, 1862</ref> but construction did not complete until after the conflict's conclusion.
From ] to the early ] the UP operated a series of ]s. No other railroad in the world operated turbines on such a scale. At one point, UP claimed that the turbines hauled ten percent of the railroad's freight. They were retired due to rising fuel costs. Two of them can now be seen in museums.


Under the original bill that formed the basis of the ], the Union Pacific Railroad was to be built from the Nevada–Utah border in the west to the Colorado–Kansas border in the east. However, due to intense lobbying by ], the eastern terminal was moved to a location where the Union Pacific could link up with the ] in Iowa.<ref name="Borneman 2010">{{cite book |last=Borneman |first=Walter R. |author-link= |date=2010 |title=Rival Rails: The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad |url= |location= |publisher=Random House |page=37 |isbn=978-1-4000-6561-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bain |first=David Haward |author-link= |date=1999 |title=Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad |url= |location= |publisher=Viking |pages=114–115 |isbn=0-670-80889-X}}</ref> Following the Act's passage, commissioners appointed by Congress began selling stock in the federally chartered Union Pacific Railroad Company. By 1863, Durant had organized the purchase of 2,000 shares, the prerequisite amount of stock sold in order to begin the railroad's construction.<ref>{{cite book |last=White |first=Richard |author-link= |date=2011 |title=Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America |url= |location=|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |pages=19–20 |isbn=978-0-393-06126-0}}</ref>
UP has the headquarters of the railroad located in ], ] since its inception and moved in ] into the recently completed Union Pacific Center, also in Omaha.


The resulting track ran westward from ], to meet in Utah the ] line, which had been constructed eastward from ]. The combined Union Pacific–Central Pacific line became known as the ] and later the ].
=== Union Pacific Corporation ===
]]]
In ] Union Pacific purchased ], a fairly major less-than-truckload shipping carrier. Union Pacific divested itself of Overnite Trucking through an ] in late ] but still owned a sizable stake until ] agreed to purchase Overnite in ] ] for ]1.25 billion.


The line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=R.M. |title=Irish Gandy Dancer: A tale of building the Transcontinental Railroad |date=2010 |publisher=Create Space |isbn=978-1-4528-2631-8 |location=Seattle |page=198}}</ref> Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder, ], the namesake of the city of ], the first rails were laid in ].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/AEC8848.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext |title=Progress of the Union Pacific railroad west from Omaha, Nebraska, across the continent, making,: with its connections, an unbroken line from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. |date=April 2, 1868 |publisher=C. A. Alvord |edition=Pamphlet |location=15 Vandewater Street, L. O. |pages=5 |quote=This aid was given to two powerful companies, viz., to {{smallcaps|The Union Pacific Railroad Company}}, building from Omaha, on the Missouri river, West; and to {{smallcaps|The Central Pacific Railroad Company}} of California, building from Sacramento, East.}} Text taken from OCR; may be corrupt.</ref> The two lines were joined at ], {{convert|53|mi}} west of ] on May 10, 1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America.<ref name="WDL">{{Cite web |date=May 10, 1869 |title=Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11371/ |access-date=July 20, 2013 |publisher=]}}</ref> Leland Stanford, founder of the ] which itself eventually was merged with Union Pacific, himself drove the ], inscribed with the words "to span the continent and wed the oceans."<ref>{{Cite web |title=First Transcontinental Railroad and Stanford forever linked |url=https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2019/05/first-transcontinental-railroad-stanford-forever-linked |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=news.stanford.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=City |first=Mailing Address: P. O. Box 897 Brigham |last2=Us |first2=UT 84302 Phone: 435 471-2209 x429 Contact |title=Four Special Spikes - Golden Spike National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/gosp/learn/historyculture/four-special-spikes.htm |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref>] (1881)|alt=]]Subsequently, the UP purchased three ]-built roads: the ] extending south from Ogden to ], the ] extending south from Salt Lake City into the ], and the ] extending north from Ogden into ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Solomon |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-KLEjzWUq8C&pg=PA35 |title=Union Pacific Railroad |date=2000 |publisher=MBI |isbn=978-0-7603-0756-4 |location=Osceola, WI |pages=36}}</ref> ], which later became ], about {{Convert|250|mi}} west of ] in the ], in October 1866. The train in the background awaits the party of Eastern capitalists, newspapermen, and other prominent figures invited by the railroad executives.|alt=]]
That same year, the Union Pacific Corporation was created as a holding company for Union Pacific and its related properties, initially including the railroad and Overnite.


The original UP was entangled in the ], exposed in 1872. As detailed by the ], Union Pacific's largest construction company, Crédit Mobilier, had overcharged Union Pacific; the railroad would then pass the inflated costs on to the United States government. To convince the federal government to accept the increased costs, Crédit Mobilier had bribed multiple congressmen. Several prominent UP board members (including Durant) had been involved in the scheme.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Jay Boyd |url=https://archive.org/details/creditmobilierof00craw |title=The Credit Mobilier of America: Its Origin and History |date=1880 |publisher=C. W. Calkins & Co. |location=Boston |page=}}</ref> The ensuing ] led to a credit crunch, but not bankruptcy.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Union Pacific Corporation purchased several non-railroad companies, such as ] of ], ] and ], but by 2000, following the accession of ] as CEO of the Corporation, it had divested itself of all non-railroad properties except for Overnite Trucking, and its holding company for logistical technology, ].


As boom followed bust, the Union Pacific continued to expand. A new company, with dominant stockholder ], purchased the old on January 24, 1880. Gould already owned the ] (originally called the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, though in essence a separate railroad), and sought to merge it with UP. Through that merger, the original "Union Pacific Rail Road" transformed into "Union Pacific Railway".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ripley |first=William Zebina |url=https://archive.org/details/railroadsfinanc01riplgoog |title=Railroads: Finance and Organization |date=1915 |publisher=Longmans, Green, & Company |location=New York |pages=–250 |quote=gould.}}</ref>
The Corporation was located in ], ] until ], when Richard K. Davidson announced that the headquarters of the Corporation was moving to ] in September of that year. Upon the sale of Skyway and the impending divestiture of Overnite, however, the corporate headquarters were moved to Omaha to join the headquarters of the railroad only two years later, in ].


Extending towards the Pacific Northwest, Union Pacific built or purchased local lines to reach ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=PNWC-NRHS |url=http://www.pnwc-nrhs.org/hs_or_n.html |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company}}</ref> Towards Colorado, it built the ]: a system combining narrow-gauge trackage into the heart of the Rockies and a standard gauge line that ran south from Denver, across ], and into Texas.
== Current Trackage ==
Primarily concentrated west of the ], the Union Pacific Railroad directly owns and operates track in 23 U.S. states: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. For administrative purposes, the Union Pacific’s track network is divided into 21 “service units”: Cheyenne, Chicago, Council Bluffs, Commuter Operations, Denver, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City, Livonia, Los Angeles, North Little Rock, North Platte, Portland, Roseville, San Antonio, Saint Louis, Tucson, Twin Cities, Utah, and Wichita. Each “service unit” is further divided into many different subdivisions, which represent segments of track ranging from 300-mile mainlines to 10-mile branch-lines.


The Union Pacific Railway would later declare bankruptcy during the ]. The resulting corporate reorganization reversed Gould's name change: Union Pacific "Railway" merged into a new Union Pacific "Railroad".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Solomon |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-KLEjzWUq8C&pg=PA35 |title=Union Pacific Railroad |date=2000 |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=9781610605595 |pages=35–43}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Post-Construction |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/history/overview/post-construction/index.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908092812/https://www.up.com/aboutup/history/overview/post-construction/index.htm |archive-date=September 8, 2018 |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>
Not including second, third and fourth main line trackage, yard trackage, and siding trackage, the Union Pacific directly operates some 36,206 miles (58,364 kilometers) of track as of March, 24, 2000. When the additional tracks are counted, however, the amount of track that the Union Pacific has direct control over rises to 54,116 miles (87,091 kilometers).


===Union Pacific in the 20th century===
Union Pacific has also been able to reach agreements with competing railroads, mostly ], that allows the railroad to operate its own trains with its own crews on hundreds of miles of competing railroads’ main tracks.
In the early 20th century, Union Pacific's focus shifted from expansion to internal improvement. Recognizing that farmers in the ] and ]s of California grew produce far in excess of local markets, Union Pacific worked with its rival Southern Pacific to develop a spoilage-resistant rail-based transport system. These efforts came culminated in the 1906 founding of ], soon to be the world's largest lessee of ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pacific Fruit Express Company Forms |url=https://www.up.com/timeline/index.cfm |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>


Meanwhile, Union Pacific worked to construct a faster, and more direct substitute for the original climb to ]. In 1904, the ] opened, reducing curvature and grades. The original route would eventually be stripped of track in 1942 to provide ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lucin Cutoff Opens |url=https://www.up.com/timeline/index.cfm/lucin-cutoff |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>
Furthermore, due to the practice of locomotive leasing and sharing undertaken by the ], Union Pacific locomotives occasionally show up on competitors' tracks throughout the ], ] and most recently, ].


To attract customers during the Great Depression, Union Pacific's chairman ] simultaneously sought to "spruce up" the quality of its rolling stock and to make its unique locations more desirable travel destinations. The first effort resulted in the purchase of the first ]: the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=M-10000 Streamliner Debuts |url=https://www.up.com/timeline/index.cfm/m-10000 |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}} See also in the sidebar: "By 1936, Union Pacific’s shiny new Streamliners had begun to attract passengers back to the railroad, but the Depression was keeping passenger counts low."</ref> The latter resulted in the ] ] in central ]; it opened in 1936 and finally was sold in 1964.<ref name="invcharlft">{{Cite news |date=November 29, 2010 |title=Union Pacific Railroad invention still takes skiers to the top |url=http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/heritage_and_steam/2010/1129_sunvalley-chairlift.shtml |access-date=June 9, 2017 |publisher=Union Pacific Railroad}}</ref><ref name="exhosv">{{Cite web |last=Lund |first=Morten |date=2000 |title=An extraordinary history of Sun Valley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 |website=Skiing Heritage Journal |pages=20–25}}</ref> Despite the fact that the M-10000 and its successors were among the first diesel locomotives, Union Pacific completed ] relatively late. In 1944, UP finally received delivery of its last steam locomotive: ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=UP Receives Its Last New Steam Locomotive |url=https://www.up.com/timeline/index.cfm/last-new-steam-locomotive |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>
== Yards and Facilities ==
Because of the enormity of the Union Pacific, hundreds of yards throughout the Union Pacific’s rail network are needed to effectively handle the daily transport of goods from one place to another.


As the 20th century waned, Union Pacific recognized—like most railroads—that remaining a regional railroad would only lead to bankruptcy. On December 31, 1925, UP and its subsidiaries operated {{convert|9834|mile}} routes and {{convert|15,265|mile}} tracks;{{Citation needed|date=September 2018}} in 1980, these numbers had remained roughly constant (9,266 route-miles and 15,647 track-miles).<ref>1980 mileage is from ''Moody's Transportation Manual'' (1981); the ICC's ''Transport Statistics'' says Union Pacific System operated 8,614 route-miles at year end 1980, but the 1979 issue says 9,315 route-miles and the 1981 says 9,096, so their 1980 figures look unlikely.</ref> But in 1982, UP acquired the ] and ] railroads, and 1988, the ].<ref name="Trains 2016" /> By 1993, Union Pacific had doubled its system to {{convert|17,385|mile}} routes.
Among the more prominent rail yards in Union Pacific’s system include:
* ], the largest railroad ] in the world, located in ].
* The Hinkle Locomotive Service and Repair Facility, the largest locomotive facility along the Union Pacific, in ].
* J.R. Davis Yard, the largest rail facility on the United States’ west coast, in ].
* Jenks Shop, one of the largest locomotive overhaul and maintenance facilities in the world, located in ].
* Global III Intermodal Facility, a critical interchange hub and loading/unloading terminal for ] shipments moving through the ] metropolitan area, in ].


By then, few large (class I) railroads remained. The same year that Union Pacific merged with the ] (1995), ] and ] announced merger plans. The impending BNSF amalgamation would leave one mega-railroad in control of the west. To compete, UP merged with ], thereby incorporating ] and ], and forming a duopoly in the West.<ref name="Trains 2016">{{Cite journal |date=November 2016 |title=Mergers since 1980 |journal=] |volume=76 |issue=11 |pages=31 |id={{ProQuest|1820289392}}}} (Sidebar on "Transcon Mergers" article.)</ref> The merged railroad took the Union Pacific name. As of 1999, the UP had {{convert|33,705|miles}} of track, about 33,000 employees, nearly 7,000 locomotives and over 155,000 rail cars.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Solomon, Brian |title=Union Pacific Railroad |date=2000 |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=978-1610605595 |page=7}}</ref>
== Union Pacific Police Department ==
] and his ] gang held up a Union Pacific train, this posse was organized to give chase. L to R: Standing, Unidentified; On horse, George Hiatt, T. Kelliher, Joe Lefors, H. Davis, S. Funk, Thomas Jefferson Carr. ]]


{{Rail freight
Union Pacific, like most other major railroads, maintains a functioning police department staffed with ''Special Agents'' with jurisdiction over crimes against the railroad. Special Agents have federal and state arrest powers and can enforce laws even off railroad property. Special Agents typically investigate major incidents such as derailments, sabotage, grade crossing accidents and hazardous material accidents and minor issues such as trespassing on the railroad right of way, vandalism/graffiti, and theft of company property or customer product.
| title=Revenue passenger traffic, in millions of passenger-miles{{refn|group=Note|Includes subsidiaries ], ], ], and ], but not jointly-owned subsidiaries ] or ].}}
| float=right
| 1925{{refn|name=Missing|group=Note|Does not include ], ], or ]}} | 1,065
| 1933<ref group="Note" name="Missing"/> | 436
| 1944<ref group="Note" name="Missing"/> | 5,481
| 1960 | 1,233
| 1970 | 333
}}


{| class="wikitable"
Special Agents often coordinate and liaise with local, state, and federal law enforcement on issues concerning the railroad and are dispatched nationally through UP Headquarters in Omaha. The Union Pacific Police Department and the term "Special Agent" were models for the ] when it was created in 1907.
|+Revenue freight ton-miles (millions)<ref group="Note">Does not include jointly-owned subsidiaries ] or ]; entry for 1993 includes all subsidiaries</ref>
|-
! !! UP<ref group="Note">Includes subsidiaries ], ], ], and ].</ref>!!]!!]!!]
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1925<ref name="ICC annual reports">ICC annual reports</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 12,869 || 10 || || 3
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1933<ref name="ICC annual reports" />{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 8,639 || 4 || 0.4 || (into UP)
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1944<ref name="ICC annual reports" />{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 37,126 || 7 || 0.7
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1960<ref name="ICC annual reports" />{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 33,280 || (into UP) || (into UP)
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1970<ref name="ICC annual reports" />{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 47,575
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1979<ref name="MIS">] report</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 73,708
|- style="text-align:right;"
! scope="row" | 1993<ref name="MIS" />{{Full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
| 220,697
|}


===Union Pacific in the 21st century===
Union Pacific Police Department can be contacted for railroad emergencies on UP tracks or right of way at 1-888-UPRR-COP (877-7267).
{{Expand section|date=April 2024}}
In March 2024 Union Pacific layoffs caused concern at the Federal Railroad Administration to the extent that the FRA, in a letter to UP's CEO, said "safety of railroad operations is paramount&nbsp;... decisions that comprise that fundamental&nbsp;... are unacceptable. You must ensure that highly trained and experienced personnel perform critical inspections and repairs&nbsp;.... Your railroad (layoffs) are far outpacing any of your Class 1 peers."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kenn |first1=Mary |title=Are Railroad Layoffs Compromising Safety and Service? |url=https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/columns/cash-market-moves/article/2024/03/11/railroad-layoffs-compromising-safety |website=DTN Progressive Farmer |date=2 April 2024}}</ref>


In 2024 the railway celebrated 150 years of having its headquarters in Omaha.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Griffith |first1=Nicole |title=Union Pacific Railroad has called Omaha home for 150 years |url=https://www.kbtx.com/2024/06/21/union-pacific-railroad-has-called-omaha-home-150-years/ |website=www.kbtx.com |language=en |date=21 June 2024}}</ref>
== Paint and colors ==
], shows the standard UP diesel locomotive livery on ], ].]]
The Union Pacific's basic paint scheme for its ] ]s is the oldest still in use by a major railroad. The bottom two-thirds of the locomotive body is painted ''Armour Yellow'' (so-named because it was the color used by the Armour meat company). A thin band of red divides this from the ''Harbor Mist Gray'' (a fairly light gray color) used for the body and roof above that point. A red line is also painted at the bottom of the locomotive body, but this color will gradually become yellow as new FRA regulations for reflectorized tape come into effect in 2005; the trucks, underframe, fuel tanks and everything else beneath that line are also painted ''Harbor Mist Gray''. Lettering and numbering is also in red, with black outlines. Some locomotives (historically passenger locomotives, and some recent units from 2000 on) have white-outlined blue "wings" on the nose. More recently, some units have been repainted with a large, billowing Stars and Stripes with the corporate motto "Building America" on the side, where the 'UNION PACIFIC' lettering is normally positioned.


The railway's Big Boy #4014, the world's largest operating steam locomotive, will visit 14 states in middle America in 2024. Twenty-five locomotives of Big Boy's size were fabricated during World War II, but only Big Boy survives. Its "Heartland of America" tour begins in August 2024 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and visits Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas through October.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Rail News - Union Pacific slates Big Boy steam locomotive's fall tour. For Railroad Career Professionals |journal=Progressive Railroading |url=https://www.progressiverailroading.com/union_pacific/news/Union-Pacific-slates-Big-Boy-steam-locomotives-fall-tour--72198 |language=en}}</ref>
The first version of this scheme was used on the UP's streamlined trains in the ], although a brown was used instead of grey. ]s, ]s and other non-freight equipment is also painted in a similar fashion.


Another locomotive, UP No. 4141, is named in honor of ], the US 41st President and is exhibited at the ] at ] in College Station, Texas. The locomotive is custom painted in the colors of GWH Bush's ]. The engine also pulled the president's funeral train on his final journey to College Station in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Union Pacific No. 4141 on Permanent Display at George H.W. Bush Presidential Center |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/4141-permanent-display-it-240612.htm |website=www.up.com |language=en}}</ref>
The ] paint schemes are unique in their own way. Up until the mid-1940s, all steam locomotives on the Union Pacific were painted in a similar fashion: the smokebox and firebox were painted graphite and the rest was painted jet black. In the 1940s, many passenger locomotives were repainted to look somewhat similar to the flashy new E and F units being delivered. These locomotives were painted graphite all over, with one dark grey strip running alongside the running board and in the middle of the tender. This dark grey strip was outlined in yellow, and all lettering inside the strip was yellow also. Near the end of the steam locomotive's reign on the Union Pacific, these locomotives were repainted in the same color scheme as the earlier freight locomotives.


==Facilities==
In the second half of 2005, Union Pacific unveiled a new set of ] locomotives in "Heritage Colors," painted in schemes reminiscent of railroads acquired by UP since the 1980s. The engine numbers match the year that the predecessor railroad was absorbed into the Union Pacific. The three locomotives already repainted commemorate the ] (]), ] (]), and ] (]) railroads. A further three engines will also be painted in the colors of other UP predecessors, which are ] (bought by UP in 1995) and ] (1996), ] (which had already a part of Southern Pacific from 1988). These three locomotives are expected to be painted in Q1 of 2006.
], used for exchanging freight with trucks from Mexico]]
], yard]]


The Union Pacific system includes hundreds of yards. Most are ]s used for local switching. Other types of yards include intermodal terminals and hump yards. Most UP intermodal terminals are typically ports, but UP also has inland terminals for transfers to trucks, such as the terminal in ] that opened in 2009<ref>{{Cite web |last=Arbona |first=Joe |date=August 22, 2007 |title=Union Pacific Begins Construction of $90 Million State-of-the-Art Intermodal Terminal in Southwest Bexar County |url=http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/capital_investment/2007/0822_sanantonio.shtml |access-date=April 2, 2015 |publisher=Union Pacific |location=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Espinoza |first=Raquel |date=March 11, 2009 |title=Union Pacific Railroad Opens New San Antonio Intermodal Terminal |url=https://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/capital_investment/2009/0311_sanantonio_intermodal.shtml |access-date=September 7, 2015 |publisher=Union Pacific |location=]}}</ref> or the one in ], that opened in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rockin' and Railroading at the Santa Teresa Intermodal Facility |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/community_ties/05_22_listen_up.htm |access-date=October 6, 2021 |website=up.com |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>
Union Pacific recently unveiled another specially painted SD70ACe. ] has "] 41" on the sides and its paint scheme resembles that of ].


===Hump yards===
== Surviving Merger Partner Locomotives ==
In 2006, Union Pacific had 11 major active ]:<ref>{{Cite journal |date=July 8, 2006 |title=North America's Hump Yards |url=http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=537 |journal=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204022048/http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=537 |archive-date=December 4, 2008 |access-date=January 13, 2015}}</ref>
As of July 31, 2005, Union Pacific operates as many as 152 Southern Pacific, 36 St. Louis Southwestern (Cotton Belt), 6 Chicago and North Western, and 13 Denver and Rio Grande Western locomotives still in their former railroad's paint. In addition, many locomotives have been "patch" renumbered by UP, varying in the degree of the previous railroads' logos being eradicated, but always with a yellow patch applied over the locomotive's former number and a new Union Pacific number applied on the cab. This allows UP to number locomotives into its roster, yet it takes less time and money than it does to perform a complete repaint into UP colors. As of July 31, 2005, Union Pacific rostered a grand total of 492 "patches", consisting of 37 Chicago and North Western patches, 445 Southern Pacific patches, 47 St. Louis Southwestern patches, and 23 Denver and Rio Grande Western patches.


*] in ]
== Historic locomotives ==
* Beaumont Yard in ]
]]
* Davidson Yard in ]
The UP, uniquely among modern railroads, maintains a small fleet of historic locomotives for special trains and hire. All historic Locomotives are stored in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the roundhouse. The roundhouse is just south of the historic depot.
* ] in ]


]
* ''']''' is a ] ''Northern'' type express passenger ] (class FEF-3). It was the last steam locomotive built for the Union Pacific and has been in continuous service since its ] delivery. Many people know the engine as the No. 8444, since an extra '4' was added to its number in ] to distinguish it from a diesel numbered in the 800 series. The steam engine regained its rightful number in June ], after the diesel was retired. A mechanical failure occurred on ], ], in which the boiler tubes from the 1996 overhaul, being made of the wrong material, collapsed inside the boiler and put the steam locomotive out of commission. The Union Pacific steam crew successfully repaired it and returned it to service on ], ]. It is the only steam locomotive to never be officially retired from a North American Class I railroad.
* Englewood Yard in ], Texas
* ''']''' is a ] ''Challenger'' class dual-service steam locomotive. It is the largest steam locomotive still in operation anywhere in the world. Withdrawn from service in ], it was stored in the Union Pacific ] until ], when it was moved to the employee's parking lot outside the ] ] until ] when a team of employee volunteers restored it to service.
* Gateway Yard in ], owned by subsidiary ]
* '''UP 951, 949 and 963B''' are a trio of streamlined ] ] passenger locomotives built in ]. They are used to haul the UP business cars and for charter specials. While externally they are 1955 vintage locomotives, the original twin engines have been replaced with single EMD 16-645E 3000 hp (2.2 MW) units and the electrical and control equipment similarly upgraded, making them modern locomotives under the skin. The set is made of two ]s and one ].
* Livonia Yard in ]
* ''']''' is an ] "Centennial" diesel-electric locomotive. These were the largest diesel locomotives ever built and were manufactured specifically for Union Pacific.
* North Little Rock Yard in ]
* '''UP 5511''' is a ] steam locomotive. This locomotive is very rarely ever heard of, due to the fact that it was never donated for public display. This locomotive is reportedly in excellent condition, and a restoration probably wouldn't take more than a couple of weeks. The only thing keeping it from being restored is that it would be limited to 40 mph or lower due to its large cylinders and small drivers. As of ] ], this locomotive is being offered for sale by UP.
* Proviso Yard in ], owned by ] until 1995
* Strang Yard in ]
* West Colton Yard in ]<ref>{{Cite press release |title=West Colton Yard |publisher=Union Pacific |url=https://www.up.com/cs/groups/public/@uprr/@newsinfo/documents/up_pdf_nativedocs/pdf_up_facilities_west_colton.pdf |access-date=June 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606112457/https://www.up.com/cs/groups/public/@uprr/@newsinfo/documents/up_pdf_nativedocs/pdf_up_facilities_west_colton.pdf |archive-date=June 6, 2019}}</ref>


In the late 2010s, Union Pacific began deactivating hump yards in favor of flat switching. In this, Union Pacific followed the industry-wide trend towards ] (PSR); railway executive ] explained that under PSR, few yards receive enough variegated traffic to necessitate a hump.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ziobro |first=Paul |date=April 18, 2017 |title=New CSX CEO Shakes up the Railroad, Starting with 'Hump Yards' |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/railroad-chief-ramps-up-by-closing-ramps-1492531098?shareToken=st198cd33377f74fd2b90c29358d40e473 |work=Wall Street Journal |quote='Hump yards are very complicated and expensive and work when you’re bringing things in from lots of directions'...'The more you do preblocking, the more you don’t need the complexity-solving machine that is a hump yard.'}}</ref> Union Pacific also closed facilities in ] ("Neff yard"), ], and ] in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cordes |first=Henry J. |date=October 20, 2019 |title=Union Pacific sees 'outstanding' results 1 year into efficiency push, but workforce has been cut 13% |url=https://www.nptelegraph.com/townnews/railway/union-pacific-sees-outstanding-results-year-into-efficiency-push-but/article_41b0ebbd-e710-5486-a404-bdd6a92c3a5e.html |access-date=October 26, 2019 |website=North Platte Telegraph}}</ref>
In addition there are a number of other locomotives kept in storage for possible future restoration. Rio Grande (DRGW) F9B 5763 is one of the units in storage, part of the Trio (A-B-B) of ] that served on the Rio Grande in various Passenger Duty services (From the Denver Ski Train to the Zephyr Trains) until their retirement in 1996. Sister Units 5771 (F9A) and 5762 (F9B) were donated to the Colorado Railroad Museum. Chicago & Northwestern ] #401, used in Chicago Commuter Service, also was retained by UP.
Among the former tenants was Southern Pacific ] 1518 (The First Production SD7 (ex. ] demo 990), transferred to the Illinois Railway Museum after sometime in storage in the UP shops.


==Locomotives and rolling stock==
== Preserved locomotives ==
Union Pacific has owned some of the most powerful locomotives. These include members of the Challenger-type (including ]), and the Northern-type (including ]), as well as the ] steam locomotives (including ]). Union Pacific ordered the ], the ], and the ] (including ]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brian Solomon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d-KLEjzWUq8C&pg=PA91 |title=Union Pacific Railroad |date=1981 |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=9781610605595 |page=91}}</ref>
In addition to the historic fleet outlined above kept by the Union Pacific itself, a large number of UP locomotives survive elsewhere. Many locomotives were donated to towns along the Union Pacific tracks, for instance, as well as locomotives donated to museums.


===Paint and colors===
* ''']''' - A ] in the collection of ].
], shows the standard UP diesel locomotive livery on May 10, 1991]]
* '''UP 4004, 4005, 4006, 4012, 4014, 4017, 4018, 4023''' - ] 4-8-8-4 ]s. Eight out of twenty-five still survive. Number 4018, currently residing at the Age of Steam Railroad Museum in ], almost saw a return to operation in 1998 when a film director proposed restoring the locomotive for use in a movie. However, it has been almost a year since anything has been heard of this proposal, and it is considered to have been only a whim. Many consider the Big Boys to have been the largest locomotives ever built, however there are other classes of steam locomotive that are heavier, longer, or more powerful.
*''']''' - One of the huge UP's ] locomotives, stored in the Commission Federal de Electricidad CFE Museum in ].
* '''UP 9000''', a ] ] giant non-articulated freight locomotive, at the ], ].


The yellow paint scheme was introduced in the spring of 1934. Engineers claimed the visibility of yellow would reduce ] accidents.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lw8TAAAAIAAJ |title=Union Pacific Bulletin |date=1950 |publisher=UPRR |pages=13 |quote=New Dress for Spring in 1934. Since that time, all streamliner passenger equipment has been painted the ... Yellow is widely used where high visibility is desired as a safety feature. Union Pacific engineers claim that use of yellow on U.P. trains will further reduce the incidence of grade crossing accidents, especially at night. Nighttime visibility is increased still more by use of red reflection Union}}</ref> In 1941, UP introduced its yellow and gray color scheme with red highlights, which remains in use today.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Welsh |first=Joe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C8JEdu10NDEC&pg=PA59 |title=Union Pacific's Streamliners |publisher=Voyageur Press |isbn=978-1-61673-115-1 |pages=59}}</ref>
== Passenger train service ==
Until ], ] (when ] took over long-distance passenger operations in the ]), the Union Pacific at various times operated the following ] ]:


The middle two-thirds of the locomotive body is painted ''Armour Yellow'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Strack |first=Don |date=August 25, 2015 |title=Armour Yellow on Union Pacific |url=https://utahrails.net/up/armour-yellow.php |access-date=June 23, 2022 |website=UtahRails.net}}</ref> a color used by ] on the packaging of its meat products. A thin band of ''Signal Red'' divides this from the ''Harbor Mist Gray'' (a light gray) used for the body and roof above that point. There is also a thin band of Signal Red along the bottom of the locomotive body, but this color has gradually become yellow as new Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations for reflectorized tape came into effect in 2005; the trucks (painted Aluminum from 1955 to 1982), underframe, fuel tanks and everything else beneath that line are also Harbor Mist Gray. Lettering and numbering are in Signal Red, with black outlines. Most locomotives have white-outlined blue "wings" on the nose, on either side of the renowned shield featuring white lettering on a blue background and, below it, red and white vertical stripes. Beginning in early 2002, a number of units were repainted with a large, billowing ] with the corporate motto "Building America" on the side, where the 'UNION PACIFIC' lettering is normally positioned.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}
* '']''
* '']'' (operated jointly with the ])
* '']''
* '']'' (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway)
* '']''
* '']''
* '']'' (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway and the ])
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']'' (''Overland Limited'')
* '']''


] #5645 in ], with the Flags and Flares paint scheme]]
{{sectstub}}
], Oregon, shows the white-outlined blue "wings" on the nose.]]
], with the Flags and Flares paint scheme leads a train on June 26, 2021]]


====Merger partner locomotives====
== Diversity ==
] locomotive renumbered with UP "patch" markings]]
Union Pacific was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mothers magazine. It was named "Most Military Friendly Employer in America" for 2005. For the third consecutive year, Union Pacific Railroad has been selected by LATINA Style magazine as one of the LATINA Style 50 best companies for ] (female ]) employees in the United States.


Until 2017, UP operated some locomotives still in the paint scheme of their former railroads. In addition, some locomotives were renumbered by UP, varying in the degree of the previous railroads' logos being eradicated, but always with a yellow patch applied over the locomotive's former number and a new UP number applied on the cab. That allowed UP to number locomotives into its roster without spending the time and money necessary to perform a complete repaint. In May 2015, UP rostered 212 "patches", consisting of:
== Facts and Figures ==
* 22 Chicago and North Western (whose CNW logos have been hidden by the "patches"),
According to Union Pacific’s ] Annual Report to Investors, at the end of 2003, the Union Pacific Railroad had more than 48,000 employees, 7,861 locomotives, and 87,725 freight cars.
* 174 Southern Pacific (AC4400CW, GP40-2, MP15AC, and GP60)
* 14 St. Louis Southwestern (GP60)
* 2 Denver and Rio Grande Western (GP60)
*While not technically a predecessor locomotive in the traditional sense, UP also rostered a single SD40-2 (3564, since retired) still in the 1970s paint scheme, not counting DDA40X No. 6936, which was part of the ] until 2022.


In 2017, Union Pacific decided to repaint all locomotives which were not in the current corporate colors. {{As of|2018|03|post=,}} only 41 locomotives remained unpainted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guss |first=Chris |date=March 2018 |title=Perfecting a unified look |journal=] |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=14 |id={{ProQuest|1988415135}}}}</ref>
Broken down by specific type of car, the Union Pacific owned:
* 29,374 ]
* 18,691 ]
* 13,489 ]
* 14,955 ]
* 11,296 “Other” types of cars


====Commemorative color schemes====
In addition, the railroad also owns 6,950 different pieces of ] work equipment.
From the second half of 2005 to the summer of 2006, UP unveiled a new set of six ] locomotives in "Heritage Colors", painted in schemes reminiscent of railroads acquired by the Union Pacific Corporation since the 1980s. The engine numbers match the year that the predecessor railroad became part of the Union Pacific system. The locomotives commemorate the ] with ], the ] with ], the ] with ], the ] with ], the ] with ], and the ] with ].<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Denver & Rio Grande Western Colors Again Ride the Rails |date=June 19, 2006 |publisher=Union Pacific Railroad |url=http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/heritage_and_steam/2006/0619_drgw.shtml |access-date=April 20, 2010}}</ref>


In October 2005, UP unveiled SD70ACe ], commissioned in honor of ]. The locomotive has "] 41" on the sides and its paint scheme resembles that of ]. It was sent into storage in 2007, but returned in 2018 to power Bush's ]. It was donated to the ] on November 8, 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wrinn |first=Jim |date=November 8, 2019 |title=Union Pacific donates SD70ACe No. 4141 to George H.W. Bush Presidential Library; Big Boy 4014 joins celebration |url=http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/11/08-union-pacific-donates-sd70ace-no-4141-to-george-hw-bush-presidential-library-big-boy-4014-joins-celebration |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928085323/https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/11/08-union-pacific-donates-sd70ace-no-4141-to-george-hw-bush-presidential-library-big-boy-4014-joins-celebration |archive-date=September 28, 2020 |access-date=November 8, 2019 |website=TrainsMag.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Union Pacific Donates George H.W. Bush Engine 4141 To The Bush Library And Museum |url=http://wtaw.com/2019/11/08/union-pacific-donates-george-h-w-bush-engine-4141-to-the-bush-library-and-museum/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109191604/http://wtaw.com/2019/11/08/union-pacific-donates-george-h-w-bush-engine-4141-to-the-bush-library-and-museum/ |archive-date=November 9, 2019 |access-date=November 9, 2019 |website=wtaw.com}}</ref>
The average age from date of manufacture for Union Pacific’s locomotive fleet was 14.3 years at the end of 2003, while the average age from date of manufacture for the freight car fleet at the end of 2003 was 24.5 years.


On March 31, 2010, UP dedicated a specially painted ] locomotive commemorating the centennial of the ].<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Union Pacific Railroad Unveils No. 2010 Boy Scouts of America Commemorative Locomotive |date=March 31, 2010 |publisher=Union Pacific Railroad |url=http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/community/2010/0331_boyscouts.shtml |access-date=April 20, 2010}}</ref>
== Company officers ==
Presidents of the Union Pacific Railroad:
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (several months in ])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;?)
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (several months in ])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash;Present)


On September 28, 2010, UP dedicated a specially painted ] locomotive, as a tribute to ].<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Union Pacific Railroad Unveils Its Pink Ribbon Locomotive |date=September 28, 2010 |publisher=Union Pacific Railroad |url=http://www.uprr.com//newsinfo/releases/community/2010/0928_pinkribbon.shtml |access-date=May 12, 2012}}</ref>
Chief Executive Officers, Presidents, and Chairmen of the Union Pacific Corporation (Parent Corporation of the Railroad)
* ] (several months in ])
* ] (]&ndash;])
* ] (]&ndash; ] ])
* ] (] ])


On October 19, 2017, Union Pacific unveiled ] 1943, "The Spirit of the Union Pacific", which is painted in a scheme to honor the United States armed forces.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Cotey |first1=Angela |title=‘Spirit of the Union Pacific’ is the newest heritage unit |magazine=Trains |date=October 19, 2017 |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/19-union-pacific-heritage-unit/ |access-date=2 December 2024}}</ref>
{{expand_list}}


On June 6, 2019, Union Pacific unveiled ] 1111, the "Powered By Our People" unit.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UP unveils 'Powered by our People' special paint scheme &#124; Trains Magazine |url=http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/06/06-up-unveils-powered-by-our-people-special-paint-scheme |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608110048/http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/06/06-up-unveils-powered-by-our-people-special-paint-scheme |archive-date=June 8, 2019 |access-date=June 8, 2019}}</ref>
== See also ==

In April 2021, Union Pacific repainted an ] into a commemorative paint scheme called "We Are ONE" to honor Juneteenth and Pride Month.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 27, 2021 |title="We Are ONE" Commemorative Locomotive Debuts |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/we-are-one-1979-210527.htm |access-date=April 15, 2022 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>

UP also has a collection of locomotives painted for ], a rail safety organization founded in 1970.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Bogdanich |first1=Walt |last2=Nordberg |first2=Jenny |date=January 23, 2005 |title=Highway Agency Disavows Claims by Rail Safety Group |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/23/us/highway-agency-disavows-claims-by-rail-safety-group.html |access-date=June 23, 2022 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===Locomotive roster===
As of December 2023, the Union Pacific had 7,175 locomotives on its active roster consisting of 42 different models.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2023 |title=Union Pacific Locomotive Roster |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/funstuff/locomotive-roster/index.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104211824/https://www.up.com/aboutup/funstuff/locomotive-roster/index.htm |archive-date=4 January 2024 |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=UP.com}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Quantity
|-
| ]|| 3
|-
| ]|| 7
|-
| ]|| 28
|-
| ]|| 217
|-
| ]|| 511
|-
|]
|543
|-
|]
|655
|-
| ]|| 937
|-
|]
|465
|-
|]
|6
|-
|]
|2
|-
| ]|| 46
|-
|]
|22
|-
|GP22
|10
|-
| ]|| 85
|-
| ]|| 167
|-
| ]|| 10
|-
|]
|7
|-
| ]|| 61
|-
|]
|129
|-
|GP59ECO
|1
|-
| ]|| 137
|-
|GP60E
|33
|-
|GP62
|16
|-
| ]|| 1
|-
|PS4B
|1
|-
|PS6B
|67
|-
|RP18G
|14
|-
| ]|| 2
|-
|]
|486
|-
|SD59MX
|28
|-
| ]|| 45
|-
|SD60E
|1
|-
| ]|| 132
|-
|SD62
|18
|-
|SD62E
|13
|-
| ]|| 510
|-
|]
|368
|-
| ]|| 1,365
|-
| ]|| 23
|-
| SNOW PLOW|| 1
|-
|STEAM
|2
|}

====Heritage equipment====
{{Main|Union Pacific heritage fleet}}

Union Pacific continues to use a small number of "heritage" steam locomotives and early streamlined diesel locomotives. This equipment is used on special charters (excursions).<ref>{{Cite web |title=UP: Steam |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/index.shtml |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=E-9 Streamliners |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/diesel-electric/e9_streamliner/index.htm |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Quantity
|-
| ] ]|| 1
|-
| ] ]|| 1
|-
| ]|| 2
|-
| ]|| 1
|}
], on July 25, 2019]]

====Low-emissions locomotives====
Union Pacific maintains a fleet of low-emissions locomotives. Most are used in Los Angeles basin rail yards, to satisfy an air quality agreement with the local authorities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Ultra-Low Emission Locomotive Goes to Work in Union Pacific's Los Angeles Basin Rail Yards |url=https://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/environment/2007/0131_ultralow.shtml |access-date=January 19, 2017 |publisher=Union Pacific}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guss |first=Chris |date=August 2018 |title=Few flowers for gensets |journal=] |volume=78 |issue=8 |pages=18–19 |id={{ProQuest|2056018178}}}}</ref>]" locomotives manufactured for Union Pacific's "Green" Fleet by ]]]
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Type !! Quantity
|-
|]|| 1
|-
|]|| 10
|-
|]|| 13
|-
|]|| 59
|-
|]|| ≥6
|-
|]||21
|-
|Others|| ≤71
|}

==Facts and figures==
]
According to UP's 2007 Annual Report to Investors, at the end of 2007 it had more than 50,000 employees, 8,721 locomotives, and 94,284 freight cars.

Broken down by specific type of car, owned and leased:
* 35,437 ]s
* 12,272 ]s
* 18,647 ]
* 13,780 ]
* 14,148 "other" types of cars

In addition, it owns 6,950 different pieces of ] work equipment. At the end of 2007, the average age of UP's locomotive fleet was 14.8 years, the freight car fleet 28 years.

UP was ranked 134th on the 2019 ] list of the largest United States corporations by revenue and had 41,967 employees.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} The Chief Executive Officer of Union Pacific since August 14, 2023, is ], the President is Beth Whited, and the chairman of the board is Mike McCarthy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Luczak |first=Marybeth |date=26 July 2023 |title=UP: Vena, Whited, McCarthy to Split CEO, President and Chair Posts |url=https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/up-vena-whited-mccarthy-to-split-ceo-president-and-chair-posts/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240305132559/https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/up-vena-whited-mccarthy-to-split-ceo-president-and-chair-posts/ |archive-date=5 March 2024 |access-date=15 March 2024 |website=]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=26 July 2023 |title=Union Pacific Appoints Jim Vena Chief Executive Officer |url=http://www.up.com/up/media/releases/vena-whited-mccarthy-nr-230726.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108100145/https://www.up.com/media/releases/vena-whited-mccarthy-nr-230726.htm |archive-date=8 November 2023 |access-date=2024-03-15 |website=www.up.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Executive Profiles |url=http://www.up.com/up/aboutup/corporate_info/exec/index.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315164310/https://www.up.com/aboutup/corporate_info/exec/index.htm |archive-date=15 March 2024 |access-date=March 15, 2024 |website=UP.com}}</ref>

In 2019, Union Pacific has been rated the worst company to work for by 247wallst.com, citing Past CEO Lance Fritz's 12% approval rating and the 22% recommendation rating from Glassdoor.com.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Union Pacific |url=http://fortune.com/fortune500/union-pacific/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118132830/http://fortune.com/fortune500/union-pacific/ |archive-date=November 18, 2018 |access-date=November 18, 2018 |website=Fortune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Parker |first=Garrett |date=August 20, 2019 |title=The 20 Worst Companies to Work For in 2019 |url=https://moneyinc.com/worst-companies-to-work-for/ |access-date=February 13, 2020 |website=Money Inc}}</ref>

==Passenger service==
] ] train stops at ], in 1963.]]

===Commuter services===
When Union Pacific bought out the ] in 1995, it inherited the railroad's ] commuter rail services in the ]: the ] to ], ] to ], and ] to ], all of which operate from ] (the former North Western Station–a name still used by many Chicago residents). In order to ensure uniformity across the Chicago area commuter rail system, trains are branded as Metra services and use Metra equipment. However, Union Pacific crews continue to operate the trains under a purchase-of-service agreement.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lassen |first=David |date=July 22, 2020 |title=STB filings detail Metra, UP disagreement (updated) |url=https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2020/07/22-stb-filings-detail-metra-up-disagreement |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729164742/https://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2020/07/22-stb-filings-detail-metra-up-disagreement |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |access-date=July 29, 2020 |agency=Trains Magazine}}</ref><ref name="Metra-History">{{Cite web |date=August 10, 2018 |title=Metra History |url=https://metrarail.com/about-metra/our-history |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308002617/https://www.metrarail.com/about-metra/our-history |archive-date=March 8, 2019 |access-date=August 10, 2018 |publisher=Metra}}</ref> In 2023, UP announced its intentions to surrender the control and operation of commuter rail services and trains in Chicago to ], however the UP would retain ownership and control of the right-of-ways of former ] lines radiating from Chicago.

===Former services===
]
Between 1869 and 1971, Union Pacific operated passenger service throughout its historic "Overland Route". These trains ran between Chicago and Omaha on the ] trackage starting in 1936. Disputes over trackage rights and passenger revenues with the C&NW prompted the UP to switch to the ] for the handling of its streamliner trains between Chicago and Omaha beginning in late 1955. The last intercity passenger train operated by UP was the westbound ''City of Los Angeles'', arriving at ] on May 2.<ref>''See'' Solomon, Brian, ''Railroad Color History: Union Pacific Railroad'', p. 72 (photo of last westbound ''City of Los Angeles'' taken at Las Vegas on May 2, 1971). MBI Publishing, 2000.</ref> Since then, Union Pacific has satisfied its ] requirements by hosting ] trains.{{refn|Merger partner ] elected not to join Amtrak and continued operating the ] until 1983.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 17, 1983 |title=Scenic route to be taken by Amtrak |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1MoTAAAAIBAJ&pg=3725,3891013&dq=san-francisco-zephyr&hl=en |access-date=September 12, 2010 |work=]}}{{Dead link|date=May 2021}}</ref>|group=Note}}

===Hosted trains===
Many Amtrak and ] routes use Union Pacific rails. This list excludes the commuter services the company directly operates in Chicago (see above).

{{Col-float}}

====Amtrak====
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''
* '']''

{{Col-float-break}}

====Commuter trains====
*]
*]
*] {{refn|name=row|group=Note|This service runs on its own dedicated tracks within a UP right of way.}}
*]
**]
**]
*]
**]<ref group="Note" name="row"/>
*]
{{col-float-end}}

==Notable accidents and safety==
===21st century===
* September 4, 2007: a Union Pacific train derailment split the small town of ]. About 16 cars derailed, most carrying salt that spilled into snow-like piles. The derailment interrupted traffic for about two hours.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alicia Ebaugh, Journal staff writer |date=September 4, 2007 |title=Derailment cuts traffic in Sergeant Bluff |url=http://siouxcityjournal.com/news/derailment-cuts-traffic-in-sergeant-bluff/article_ff021c78-42b3-510d-baa7-f70c5404d375.html |access-date=October 29, 2015 |website=Sioux City Journal}}</ref>
* June 24, 2012: three crew members died and caused a property damage of $15 million when two Union Pacific trains collided head-on just east of ]. The eastbound train passed a stop signal on the main track and struck the westbound train in a siding about {{Convert|1|mi|spell=in}} east of the meeting point.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 26, 2012 |title=NTSB: Why didn't train wait before Oklahoma crash? |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/26/ntsb-why-didnt-train-wait-oklahoma-crash/?page=all |access-date=July 19, 2012 |work=The Washington Times}}</ref> The ] provided the probable causes as eastbound train's operator's vision problems and failure by the conductor to get backup assistance as required. NTSB stated UP did not comply with its own policies when it medically recertified the operator. The company only had six color tests despite the policy requiring a color test for 10 signals.<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 18, 2013 |title=Train engineer's vision problems led to deadly Oklahoma wreck, NTSB rules |url=https://oklahoman.com/article/3853801/train-engineers-vision-problems-led-to-deadly-oklahoma-wreck-ntsb-rules/ |access-date=November 2, 2019 |website=Oklahoman.com}}</ref>
* November 15, 2012: A UP train ] in Midland, Texas, killing four and injuring 16 passengers on the parade float.
* May 25, 2013: in ], a Union Pacific train collided with a ] train at a ], injuring seven, and causing damages exceeding $10 million. The accident caused a ] overpass to partially collapse and caused a fire.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NTSB Launches Go-Team to Missouri to Investigate Collision Between Two Freight Trains That Partially Collapsed a Highway Overpass |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/news/2013/130525.html |access-date=May 26, 2013 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hendricks |first=Christy |title=NTSB investigating after train collision, overpass collapse in Scott County |url=http://www.kfvs12.com/story/22421572/crews-on-scene-of-train-collision-overpass-collapse |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040216/http://www.kfvs12.com/story/22421572/crews-on-scene-of-train-collision-overpass-collapse |archive-date=December 1, 2017 |access-date=May 26, 2013 |publisher=KFVS12}}</ref> The investigation concluded the engineer most likely fell asleep, due to ]. The uncontrolled train violated four progressively more restrictive signals before colliding with the BNSF train at roughly {{Cvt|40|mph}}. Three months later, the Route M overpass reopened with a new design.<ref>{{Cite web |title=HQ-2013-13 (Finalized) &#124; FRA |url=http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L17184#p1_z25_gD_lAC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160406080441/http://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/details/L17184 |archive-date=April 6, 2016 |access-date=March 27, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Local News Releases |url=http://www.modot.org/southeast/news_and_information/District10Release.shtml?action%3DdisplaySSI%26newsId%3D188581 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412080744/http://www.modot.org/southeast/news_and_information/District10Release.shtml?action=displaySSI&newsId=188581 |archive-date=April 12, 2016 |access-date=March 27, 2016}}</ref>
* June 3, 2016: ] in the ] near ]. Eleven cars derailed, at least one caught on fire, and {{Cvt|42000|gal|m3}} of ] crude oil spilled, some going into the ]. Some {{Convert|10000|gal|m3}} were eventually recovered.]
* Mid-late 2018: the ], a moving mud pot, encroached on the railroad near the eastern shore of the ], requiring extensive engineering work to first delay the movement and then build a temporary diversion.<ref name="latimes">{{Cite news |last1=Reyes-Velarde |first1=Alejandra |last2=Lin II |first2=Rong-Gong |date=November 1, 2018 |title=A San Andreas fault mystery: The 'slow-moving disaster' in an area where the Big One is feared |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-niland-mud-pot-20181101-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref name="natgeo">{{Cite news |last=Andrews |first=Robin George |date=November 9, 2018 |title=A bubbling pool of mud is on the move, and no one knows why |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bubbling-pool-mud-moving-california-dont-know-why-geology |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225163129/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/bubbling-pool-mud-moving-california-dont-know-why-geology |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |work=National Geographic}}</ref><ref name="hgs">{{Cite journal |last1=Francuch |first1=Dean G |last2=Deane |first2=Travis |last3=Zamora |first3=Carol |date=2019 |title=The meandering Mundo Mud Pot: Or how Salton Sea tectonics affect international trade |url=https://trid.trb.org/view/1692604 |journal=Proceedings of the 70th Highway Geology Symposium |pages=439–456}}</ref>
* September 7, 2019: a Union Pacific train of two locomotives and three tank cars carrying ] derailed and crashed into an overpass support column at the ] in ].<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 7, 2019 |title=Union Pacific train with liquefied gas derails in Portland |url=https://www.apnews.com/18aeb3b85d7d4f1ab6264fdc40170fa5 |access-date=September 9, 2019 |work=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=September 7, 2019 |title=Union Pacific train derails in Portland's Albina Yard, cracks support beam of overpass |url=https://www.kptv.com/news/union-pacific-train-derails-in-portland-s-albina-yard-cracks/article_3af68c88-d1ac-11e9-90c1-b78a34e9b1f1.html |access-date=September 9, 2019 |work=Fox 12 Oregon}}</ref> The support column is for the eastbound lanes of the six-lane Going Street overpass, which is the only public access to the major industrial area ] for cars and trucks. Four lanes were left unsafe after the derailment.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Young |first=Molly |date=September 8, 2019 |title=Swan Island traffic could be backed up for months after train slams into vital Going Street bridge |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2019/09/swan-island-traffic-could-be-backed-up-for-months-after-train-slams-into-vital-going-street-bridge.html |access-date=September 9, 2019 |work=The Oregonian}}</ref><ref name="Theen 2019">{{Cite web |last=Theen |first=Andrew |date=September 25, 2019 |title=Portland approves $1 million repair contract for Going Street bridge smashed by train |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2019/09/portland-approves-1-million-repair-contract-for-going-street-bridge-smashed-by-train.html |access-date=October 16, 2019 |website=oregonlive}}</ref> Two of six lanes remain closed as of November 14, 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stein |first=Rosemarie |date=November 14, 2019 |title=Portland metro Thursday traffic: PBOT gets a fourth lane open on Going Street Bridge |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2019/11/portland-metro-thursday-traffic-pbot-gets-a-fourth-lane-open-on-going-street-bridge.html |access-date=January 6, 2020 |website=oregonlive}}</ref> The cause of the crash was broken rails.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 9, 2019 |title=Union Pacific identifies broken rail as cause of Portland train derailment, crash into columns |url=https://www.kptv.com/news/union-pacific-identifies-broken-rail-as-cause-of-portland-train/article_6a95ee52-d364-11e9-a560-771c3619a5ac.html |access-date=September 10, 2019 |work=Fox 12 Oregon}}</ref> There was nobody on board the train which was remotely operated at the time of crash.<ref name="Theen 2019" /> In May 2020, another Union Pacific derailment damaged a different overpass which '']'' described as an ongoing safety concern.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sorenson |first=Saundra |title=Three-Car Derailment in North Portland Signals Ongoing Safety Concerns |url=https://www.theskanner.com/news/northwest/30001-three-car-derailment-in-north-portland-signals-ongoing-safety-concerns |access-date=October 14, 2020 |website=The Skanner News}}</ref>
* March 21, 2022: A Union Pacific freight train derailed and fell from a viaduct in ], California.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 21, 2022 |title=Freight train derails in Colton |url=https://ktla.com/news/local-news/freight-train-carrying-lumber-derails-in-colton/ |access-date=March 22, 2022 |website=KTLA}}</ref>
*September 2023: The railroad furloughed 138 workers, a small fraction of its 50,000 employees, but enough to cause a reprimand from the ] (FRA) that indicated its inspection of UP trains determined the rates of defects in locomotives and cars was double the national average, which the FRA said, was caused by a dearth of personnel.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fung |first=Esther |date=21 September 2023 |title=Union Pacific Draws Safety Regulator's Ire After Worker Furloughs |url=https://www.wsj.com/business/logistics/union-pacific-draws-safety-regulators-ire-after-worker-furloughs-ebc7952e |access-date=19 March 2024 |website=]}}</ref>
*December 18, 2024: A Union Pacific train crashed into a semi-truck that was hauling an oversize load in ], resulting in all four locomotives and multiple freight cars with metal shipping containers derailing, including three that were carrying potentially hazardous materials (lithium-ion batteries and airbags), but none were released. Leaked diesel fuel was also contained. The Pecos Chamber of Commerce was also damaged as it was hit by the train during the derailment. Two Union Pacific employees were killed and 3 others were injured.<ref>{{cite web|title=Union Pacific train derails after hitting tractor-trailer on Texas railroad tracks, killing two: video|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/union-pacific-train-derails-after-hitting-tractor-trailer-on-texas-railroad-tracks-killing-two-video|date=December 19, 2024}}</ref>

====San Antonio area====
On June 28, 2004, a UP train collided with an idle ] train in ]. In the course of the derailment, a 90-ton ] carrying liquified ] was punctured. As the chlorine vaporized, a toxic "yellow cloud" formed, killing three and causing 43 hospitalizations. The costs of cleanup and property damaged during the incident exceeded $7 million.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chlorine Rail Car Incident |url=http://www.aristatek.com/newsletter/0708August/TechSpeak.pdf |access-date=April 18, 2010 |publisher=Aristatek}}</ref> ] in ], on June 28, 2004|alt=]]
Investigations of the Macdona incident revealed several serious safety lapses on the part of the Union Pacific and its employees, including employees not following the company's own safety rules.<ref name="nytimes.com">{{Cite news |last1=Nordberg |first1=Jenny |last2=Bogdanich |first2=Walt |date=November 17, 2004 |title=Regulators Plan to Step Up Union Pacific Safety Checks |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/17/politics/17rail.html |work=The New York Times}}</ref> While the immediate cause of the derailment was the UP crew's "fatigue", chlorine ]s had been improperly placed near the front of the train, a danger in the case of derailment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=NTSB – Remarks by Robert L. Sumwalt |url=https://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/sumwalt/rls070522.htm |access-date=April 19, 2010 |publisher=National Transportation Safety Board}}</ref>

The Macdona incident was not the first derailment in the ] area. Between May and November 1994, Union Pacific trains derailed five times, killing at least 4 people.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 11, 2004 |title=Man Killed in Fifth Train Derailment in San Antonio Since May |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/11/national/11derail.html |access-date=April 18, 2010 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Between June 2004 and March 2005, 10 trains derailed, killing as many people.<ref name="query.nytimes.com">{{Cite news |last=Bogdanich |first=Walt |date=March 19, 2005 |title=Texas Has Pact With Railroad To Move Lines |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE7DA113CF93AA25750C0A9639C8B63 |work=The New York Times}}</ref>

In the aftermath of Macdona, the ] signed a compliance agreement with the railroad in which the railroad promised to rectify the "notable deficiencies" that regulators found.<ref name="nytimes.com" /><ref name="query.nytimes.com" /> But the relative impunity UP seemed to exhibit regarding the derailment led to suggestions that the FRA was far "too cozy&nbsp;... to the railroads."<ref name="nytimes.com" /> In March 2005, Texas Governor ] supported a plan to reroute trains around large urban population centers in Texas, including San Antonio, but such a plan was purely voluntary and had no timetable associated.<ref name="query.nytimes.com" />

Trains have continued to derail in the area<ref>{{Cite web |title=Train derailment leaves big mess |url=http://www.pro8news.com/news/local/86466522.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308133352/http://www.pro8news.com/news/local/86466522.html |archive-date=March 8, 2010 |access-date=April 18, 2010 |publisher=pro8news}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Train derails near New Braunfels |url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Train_derails_near_New_Braunfels_without_injuries.html |access-date=April 18, 2010 |work=San Antonio Express News}}{{dead link|date=September 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Davila |first=Vianna |date=November 4, 2009 |title=UP train derails in Atascosa County |url=http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Union_Pacific_train_derails_in_Atascosa_County.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120904012918/http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/UP-train-derails-in-Atascosa-County-840581.php |archive-date=September 4, 2012 |access-date=April 18, 2010 |work=San Antonio Express News}}</ref> including an incident in June 2009 where tank cars containing ] and ] derailed, but did not spill.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Train derails near Schulenburg, spills chemical |url=http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2009/jun/15/er_train_derailment_061609_54757/ |access-date=April 15, 2010 |work=The Victoria Advocate}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Schulenburg Train Derailment |url=http://www.epaosc.org/site/site_profile.aspx?site_id=5112 |access-date=April 18, 2010 |publisher=United States Environmental Protection Agency}}</ref>{{Update inline|date=September 2018}}

==Community responsibility==
===Transient camp and graffiti issues===
The City of ], threatened Union Pacific with a lawsuit in 2019 after years of complaints about ] and graffiti blight going unaddressed. For the first time in many years, Union Pacific cleaned out along the tracks starting in November 2019. San Jose Councilman Sergio Jimenez said "The reality is that Union Pacific has not been a good neighbor".<ref name="The Mercury News 2019">{{Cite web |date=June 5, 2019 |title=San Jose: In tense meeting, Union Pacific tells residents night horns will continue |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/05/san-jose-councilman-union-pacific-has-not-been-a-good-neighbor/ |access-date=March 21, 2020 |website=The Mercury News}}</ref>

San Jose's mayor Sam Liccardo said<blockquote>"At any given conference of mayors, you won't hear anyone expressing confidence that Union Pacific will respond nimbly or collaboratively," and "But we are hopeful that the (memorandum of understanding) will turn a page on Union Pacific's behavior in the past to enable a more collaborative relationship going forward."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-14 |title=San Jose homeless encampments cleared along Union Pacific railroad tracks |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/hundreds-of-san-jose-encampments-to-be-cleared-along-union-pacific-tracks |access-date=2020-03-21 |website=The Mercury News}}</ref></blockquote>'']'' reports that company has been uncooperative and non responsive to working together, such as failing to come through with graffiti abatement as Union Pacific had promised the city.<ref name="The Mercury News 2019" />

===2022 Utah legislative action===
In 2022, legislators in Utah brought forth two separate bills specifically aimed at Union Pacific. The first, HB181, was raised after some municipalities encountered resistance from Union Pacific when attempting to upgrade rail crossings. In ], Union Pacific altered a construction agreement to require the city to pay maintenance fees in perpetuity for an upgraded crossing, a mandate which was against state code.<ref name="Webb 2022">{{Cite web |last=Webb |first=Kat |date=June 20, 2022 |title=New Traffic Signal Left on 'Red': Logan Claims Union Pacific Trying to Railroad Them with Perpetual Fees |url=https://www.hjnews.com/news/government/new-traffic-signal-left-on-red-logan-claims-union-pacific-trying-to-railroad-them-with/article_daae9329-98ad-5eeb-9516-1026c350c32d.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |website=The Herald Journal}}</ref> The proposed legislation would make it easier for municipalities to get crossing improvements approved, and clarifies which party must pay associated maintenance costs. HB181 was ultimately passed.<ref name="Deseret News 2022">{{Cite web |date=March 1, 2022 |title=Utah Lawmakers, Union Pacific Make Nice: Bill to Force Clean Switchers Put on Hold |url=https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/3/1/22956621/air-quality-utah-union-pacific-make-nice-bill-force-clean-switchers-put-on-hold-pollution-salt-lake |access-date=June 25, 2022 |website=Deseret News}}</ref><ref name="Trains 2022">{{Cite web |date=March 2, 2022 |title=Utah Bill Aimed at Union Pacific Switch Engines Placed on Hold |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/utah-bill-aimed-at-union-pacific-switch-engines-placed-on-hold/ |access-date=June 25, 2022 |website=Trains}}</ref>

==Environmental record==
In Eugene, Oregon, where pollution from a century-old ] has been seeping into groundwater, the UP and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality launched a study of ground contamination in 2008. The pollutants are mostly petroleum ]s, industrial solvents, and metals.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Union Pacific Railyard Cleanup, Eugene |url=http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/cu/wr/UPRREugene/index.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526051327/http://www.deq.state.or.us/lq/cu/wr/uprreugene/index.htm |archive-date=May 26, 2008 |access-date=March 29, 2009 |publisher=Oregon Department of Environmental Quality}}</ref>

In 2007, Union Pacific Railroad worked with the ] to develop a way to reduce locomotive exhaust emissions. They discovered that adding an oxidation catalyst filtering canister to the diesel engine's exhaust manifold and using ] would reduce particulate emissions by about half, unburned hydrocarbons by 38&nbsp;percent, and carbon monoxide by 82&nbsp;percent.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 18, 2007 |title=Union Pacific Tests Exhaust Catalyst on Locomotives |url=http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/01/18/union-pacific-tests-exhaust-catalyst-on-locomotives/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081009013218/http://www.environmentalleader.com/2007/01/18/union-pacific-tests-exhaust-catalyst-on-locomotives/ |archive-date=October 9, 2008 |access-date=May 8, 2008 |website=Environmental Leader}}</ref>

The company's Fuel Master program rewards locomotive engineers who save the most ] each month. The program has saved the company millions of dollars, much of which has been returned to the engineers. In 2006, the program's founder, Wayne Kennedy, received the John H. Chafee Environmental Award, and the program was recognized by Transportation Secretary ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Green Car Congress: DOT Secretary Commends Union Pacific's Conservation Program, Says US Needs to Go on Energy Diet |url=http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/02/dot_secretary_c.html |access-date=October 29, 2015 |website=GreenCarCongress.com |publisher=BioAge Media}}</ref>

In January 2018, a former waste water operator at Union Pacific Albina Yard in ], employed by the railroad's contractor ] negligently released thousands of gallons of oil into the environment. The operator was distracted by a cell phone and allowed the tank to overflow for over an hour. An engineering firm hired by Union Pacific estimates {{convert|1800|usgal|L|abbr=off|sp=us}} of it was released into nearby ], not including the spill that was captured by the containment booms. Employees of ] who were working at facilities nearby placed booms to contain the oil spill. Federal prosecutors have charged the operator Robert LaRue Webb II with violation of the ] for releasing the oil into the environment. Webb pleaded guilty in August 2019,<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 5, 2019 |title=Portland Man Pleads Guilty to Clean Water Act Violation for Discharging Oil into Willamette River |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-or/pr/portland-man-pleads-guilty-clean-water-act-violation-discharging-oil-willamette-river |access-date=November 4, 2019 |website=Department of Justice - U.S. Attorney's Office}}</ref> and was sentenced to two years probation and a $2,500 fine.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bernstein |first=Maxine |date=June 24, 2019 |title=Union Pacific plant operator allowed thousands of gallons of oil to spill into Willamette River, feds say |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2019/06/union-pacific-plant-operator-allowed-thousands-of-gallons-of-oil-to-spill-into-willamette-river-feds-say.html |access-date=November 2, 2019 |website=oregonlive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bernstein |first=Maxine |date=October 28, 2019 |title=Former Union Pacific Plant Officer Who Allowed Gallons of Oil to Seep into Willamette River Gets Probation |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/10/former-union-pacific-plant-officer-who-allowed-gallons-of-oil-to-seep-into-willamette-river-gets-probation.html |access-date=November 2, 2019 |website=oregonlive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=October 29, 2019 |title=Ex-Railroad Plant Operator Who Allowed Oil Spill Sentenced |url=https://apnews.com/d02fabd3a2ef4b03b64fffe04eced553 |access-date=November 2, 2019 |website=AP NEWS}}</ref>

In 2016, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. was named as a defendant in a lawsuit seeking cleanup of a contaminated rail yard site that operated in ], from the late 1800s until the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Burgess |first=Richard |date=February 5, 2016 |title=Landowners sue to get Lafayette railroad yard cleaned up, concerned about contamination of aquifer: Potential threat to Chicot Aquifer cited |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/acadiana/news/article_426b44fd-9b74-5479-8d2c-969818f180dd.html |access-date=November 9, 2021 |website=The Advocate}}</ref>

In 2020, ] residents living near a Union Pacific Railroad Company rail yard filed lawsuits against the Union Pacific. These lawsuits followed the finding by the State of Texas of a higher-than-expected incidence of certain cancers in residents living close to the yard.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Douglas |first=Erin |date=September 19, 2020 |title=Residents Sue Union Pacific, Others over Cancer Deaths |url=https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=country%3AUSA%21USA&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=lawsuit%20%22union%20pacific%22%20Houston%20railyard&docref=news/17DB0F01C28BCF48 |access-date=November 9, 2021 |website=NewsBank |publisher=Houston Chronicle}}</ref> A State of Texas report released in 2021 identified an additional ] of ] in children.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ernst |first=Sara Willa |date=February 3, 2021 |title='We Know What We Want': 5th Ward Residents Demand Action after Another Confirmed Cancer Cluster |url=https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/health-science/2021/02/03/390571/5th-ward-cancer-cluster-houston-confirmed/ |access-date=November 9, 2021 |publisher=Houston PBS}}</ref>

In 2022, the state of Utah proposed bill, HB405, which would have required Union Pacific to replace their aging fleet of ] switching locomotives with hydrogen or electric engines by 2028, due to Utah having very poor air quality in winter months. According to Utah Senator Schultz, Union Pacific was uncooperative on the switching locomotive bill if Utah did not drop the railroad crossings bill. HB405 was dropped after Union Pacific made voluntary commitments to replace several tier 0 switching locomotives with less polluting tier 2 locomotives, as well as to test some all electric ones in the Utah Roper Rail Yard.<ref name="Deseret News 2022" /><ref name="Trains 2022" />

Wabtec is modernizing 600 older Union Pacific locomotives over a three-year period through 2025. The modernizations will improve fuel efficiency and reliability of these locomotives while also reducing emissions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Francis |first=Bob |date=2022-08-02 |title=Fort Worth plant to modernize Union Pacific locomotives for efficiency, environmental benefits |url=http://fortworthreport.org/2022/08/02/fort-worth-plant-to-modernize-union-pacific-locomotives-for-efficiency-environmental-benefits-%EF%BF%BC/ |access-date=2024-05-29 |website=Fort Worth Report |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Equipment Management Pool (EMP) ==
Union Pacific and ] are the largest owner-partners of ], a domestic freight interline intermodal freight transport service that rents and moves more than 35,000 ] and chassis throughout North America. Other partners in the freight company include ], ], ], and ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=EMP Domestic Container Program |url=https://www.up.com/customers/intermodal/emp/index.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304095813/https://www.up.com/customers/intermodal/emp/index.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |access-date=January 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Domestic Equipment/EMP &#124; NS Services &#124; Intermodal &#124; Shipping Options &#124; Norfolk Southern |url=http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/shipping-options/intermodal/norfolk-southern-services/domestic-equipment-emp.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160711012157/http://nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/shipping-options/intermodal/norfolk-southern-services/domestic-equipment-emp.html |archive-date=July 11, 2016 |access-date=January 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=CPR Increases Intermodal Options through the EMP Container Program |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cpr-increases-intermodal-options-through-the-emp-container-program-74170262.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160801205114/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cpr-increases-intermodal-options-through-the-emp-container-program-74170262.html |archive-date=August 1, 2016 |access-date=January 2, 2015}}</ref> In 2022, the Canadian Pacific Railway, one year prior to its merger with the ], was dropped from the pool, leaving CN as the only Canadian member.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=September 19, 2022 |title=Union Pacific drops Canadian Pacific from EMP intermodal program |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/union-pacific-drops-canadian-pacific-from-emp-intermodal-program/ |access-date=June 7, 2023 |magazine=Trains}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sole Canadian Partner in UP/NS EMP Program |url=https://www.cn.ca/en/stories/20221025-cn-emp-partnership/ |access-date=June 7, 2023 |publisher=Canadian National Railway}}</ref>

==Union Pacific Railroad Museum==
]

The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is a former ] in ], that houses artifacts, photographs, and documents that trace the development of the railroad and the ].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Museum History |url=http://www.uprrmuseum.org/museum/about_us/museum_history.shtml |access-date=September 7, 2018 |publisher=UPRR Museum}}</ref> The company pays upkeep on the privately owned building, which houses part of Union Pacific's corporate collection, one of the oldest in the United States. Holdings include weapons from the late 19th and 20th centuries, outlaw paraphernalia, a sampling of the immigrants' possessions, and a photograph collection comprising more than 500,000 images.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.P. History and Photos |url=https://www.up.com/aboutup/history/index.htm |access-date=April 2, 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Companies|Trains|United States}}
* ] * ]
* ]
* '']'' (TV series involving Union Pacific set in 1865)
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ] (ex-locomotives used by the UP for remote control)
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


== References == ==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note}}
* {{Book reference| Title=Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869| Author=]| Year=2000| Publisher=Simon & Schuster| ID=ISBN 0-684-84609-8}}
* Trains News Wire (], ]), ''''. Retrieved ], ] &mdash; details UPS/Overnite deal.
*
*
*
*
* Union Pacific Railroad, ''''. Retrieved ] ].
* Union Pacific Railroad, ''''. Retrieved ] ].
* Union Pacific Railroad, ''''. Retrieved ] ].


==References==
== External links ==
{{Reflist}}
*
* Heritage paint photos: , , ,
*
*
*
*


==Further reading==
{{North America class 1}}
{{Library resources box
|onlinebooks=yes
|lcheading=Union Pacific Railroad Company – History}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ambrose |first=Stephen E. |author-link=Stephen E. Ambrose |title=Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863–1869 |title-link=Nothing Like It in the World |date=2000 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=978-0-684-84609-5}}
* {{Cite book |last=Athearn |first=Robert G. |title=Union Pacific Country |date=1971 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0803208582 |edition=Reprinted |location=Lincoln}} – covers impact of the railroad on the region it served from the 1860s to the 1890s.
* {{Cite book |title=The history of the Union Pacific : America's great transcontinental railroad |date=1994 |publisher=Smithmark |isbn=9780831737993 |editor-last=Cahill |editor-first=Marie |location=New York |editor-last2=Piade |editor-first2=Lynne}} – heavily illustrated
* {{Cite book |last=Collins |first=Ryan Michael |title=Irish Gandy Dancer : A Tale of Building the Transcontinental Railroad |date=2011 |publisher=Createspace |isbn=9781452826318 |location=Charleston, S.C.}}
* {{Cite book |title=Riding the Transcontinental Rails : Overland Travel on the Pacific Railroad, 1865-1881 |date=2004 |publisher=Polyglot Press |isbn=978-1-4115-9993-2 |editor-last=Cooper |editor-first=Bruce C. |location=Philadelphia}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Bushnell, Winthrop Grant, Electrical Engineer |encyclopedia=American Biography: A New Cyclopedia, Volume 16 |publisher=American Historical Society |date=1924 |editor-last=Cutter |editor-first=William Richard |pages=295–298}}
* {{Cite book |title=Pacific Railroad Laws, Including Charters and Acts of Congress, Relating to Or Affecting the Union Pacific Railroad: The Kansas Pacific Railway, the Denver Pacific Railway, the Central Pacific Railroad, the Northern Pacific Railroad, the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and the Texas & Pacific Railroad |date=1890 |publisher=Union Pacific Railroad Company |editor-last=Dillon |editor-first=John F. |pages=1–25 |chapter=Act July 1, 1862, (12 Stat. 489) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r1srAAAAYAAJ&dq=Pacific+Railroad+Laws,+Including+Charters+and+Acts+of+Congress,+Relating+to+Or+Affecting+the+Union+Pacific+Railroad&pg=PR1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Galloway |first=John Debo |title=The first transcontinental railroad : Central Pacific, Union Pacific |date=1989 |publisher=Dorset Press |isbn=9780880294096 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=William C. Durant |encyclopedia=Business Scandals, Corruption, and Reform:An Encyclopedia |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRfOEAAAQBAJ |access-date=2024-02-22 |last=Giroux |first=Gary |date=2013 |pages=176–177 |isbn=978-1-4408-0068-9}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kelly |first=John |title=Union Pacific Railroad : passenger trains of the city fleet photo archive |date=2009 |publisher=Iconografix |isbn=978-1-58388-236-8 |location=Hudson, Wis.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Klein |first=Maury |author-link=Maury Klein |title=Union Pacific: Volume 1, 1862-1893. |date=2006 |publisher=] |isbn=9780816696635 |location=Minneapolis |orig-date=1989}} – the standard scholarly history
* {{Klein-UP-2}}
* {{Cite book |last=Klein |first=Maury |author-link=Maury Klein |title=Union Pacific the reconfiguration : America's greatest railroad from 1969 to the present |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780199708581 |location=New York}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Mitchell |first=Thomas Warner |date=August 1907 |title=The Growth of the Union Pacific and Its Financial Operations |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=569–612 |doi=10.2307/1883588 |jstor=1883588}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Perry |first1=John D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jJUpAAAAYAAJ&q=John%20D.%20Perry%20Kansas%20Railway&pg=PP2 |title=Letter of John D. Perry, President of the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern ... Union Pacific Railway: Reports Showing the Necessity and Advantages of its Construction to the Pacific By Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, President |last2=Wright |first2=William Wierman |last3=LeConte |first3=John Lawrence |date=1868 |publisher=Review Printing House |location=Philadelphia |access-date=February 19, 2011}}
*{{Cite book |last=White |first=Richard |author-link=Richard White (historian) |url=https://archive.org/details/railroadedtransc00whit_0 |title=Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America |date=2011 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-06126-0 |url-access=registration}}
*{{Citation |title=Railway Wonders of the World |date=1936 |pages=1533–1542 |editor-last=Winchester |editor-first=Clarence |chapter=North American Railroads |chapter-url=http://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/north-american-railroads.html |oclc=580319}} illustrated account of the Union Pacific and other North American Railroads


==External links==
]
{{Commons category|Union Pacific Railroad}}
<!--===========================({{NoMoreLinks}})===============================-->
<!--| DO NOT ADD MORE LINKS TO THIS ARTICLE. WIKIPEDIA IS NOT A COLLECTION OF |-->
<!--| LINKS. If you think that your link might be useful, do not add it here, |-->
<!--| but put it on this article's discussion page first or submit your link |-->
<!--| to the appropriate category at the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org)|-->
<!--| and link back to that category using the {{dmoz}} template. |-->
<!--| |-->
<!--| See ] and ] for details |-->
<!--===========================({{NoMoreLinks}})===============================-->
* {{Official website}}
* is archived at the ], ].
{{Finance links
| name = Union Pacific
| symbol = UNP
| sec_cik = UNP
| yahoo = UNP
| google = UNP
}}
{{North America Class I}}
{{UP Passenger}}
{{UP Giants}}
{{UP historical equipment}}
{{Omaha railroads}}
{{Dow Jones Transportation Average}}

{{Authority control}}

]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
] ]
]
]
]
]
] ]
] ]
]

]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]
]<!--Marion-Holbert-->
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 07:06, 27 December 2024

Class I freight railroad in the United States "Union Pacific" redirects here. For other uses, see Union Pacific (disambiguation). See also: History of the Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific Railroad
System map (trackage rights in purple)
UP 2723 leading a train eastbound near inland California.
Overview
Parent companyUnion Pacific Corporation
HeadquartersUnion Pacific Center, Omaha, Nebraska, United States
Key people
FounderU.S. Congress
CEOJim Vena
Reporting markUP (road locomotives), UPP (passenger cars), UPY (yard locomotives)
LocaleWestern, Midwestern and Southern United States
Dates of operation1862–present
  • First company, Union Pacific Rail Road: 1862–1880
  • Second company, Union Pacific Railway: 1880–1897
  • Third company, Union Pacific Railroad (Mark I): 1897–1998
  • Fourth company, Union Pacific Railroad (Mark II): 1969–present (originally Southern Pacific Transportation Company until 1998; renamed Union Pacific during UP-SP merger)
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length32,100 miles (51,700 km)
Other
Websiteup.com

The Union Pacific Railroad (reporting marks UP, UPP, UPY) is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles (51,800 km) routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, with which it shares a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western, Midwestern and West South Central United States.

Founded in 1862, the original Union Pacific Rail Road was part of the first transcontinental railroad project, later known as the Overland Route. Over the next century, UP absorbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. In 1995, the Union Pacific merged with Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, completing its reach into the Upper Midwest. In 1996, the company merged with Southern Pacific Transportation Company, itself a giant system that was absorbed by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The Union Pacific Railroad Company is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation, which are both headquartered at the Union Pacific Center, in Omaha, Nebraska.

History

Main article: History of the Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific in the 19th century

See also: First transcontinental railroad

The original company, the "Union Pacific Rail Road", was incorporated on July 1, 1862, under the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. President Abraham Lincoln had approved the act, which authorized railroad construction from the Missouri River to the Pacific to ensure the stability of the Union throughout the American Civil War, but construction did not complete until after the conflict's conclusion.

Under the original bill that formed the basis of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, the Union Pacific Railroad was to be built from the Nevada–Utah border in the west to the Colorado–Kansas border in the east. However, due to intense lobbying by Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the eastern terminal was moved to a location where the Union Pacific could link up with the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad in Iowa. Following the Act's passage, commissioners appointed by Congress began selling stock in the federally chartered Union Pacific Railroad Company. By 1863, Durant had organized the purchase of 2,000 shares, the prerequisite amount of stock sold in order to begin the railroad's construction.

The resulting track ran westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to meet in Utah the Central Pacific Railroad line, which had been constructed eastward from Sacramento, California. The combined Union Pacific–Central Pacific line became known as the first transcontinental railroad and later the Overland Route.

The original "golden spike", on display at the Cantor Arts Museum at Stanford University

The line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder, Thomas C. Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha. The two lines were joined at Promontory Summit, Utah, 53 miles (85 km) west of Ogden on May 10, 1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. Leland Stanford, founder of the Central Pacific Railroad which itself eventually was merged with Union Pacific, himself drove the golden spike, inscribed with the words "to span the continent and wed the oceans."

The Last Spike, by Thomas Hill (1881)

Subsequently, the UP purchased 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.

Directors of the Union Pacific Railroad gather on the 100th meridian, which later became Cozad, Nebraska, about 250 miles (400 km) west of Omaha in the 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.

The original UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872. As detailed by the New York Sun, Union Pacific's largest construction company, Crédit Mobilier, had overcharged Union Pacific; the railroad would then pass the inflated costs on to the United States government. To convince the federal government to accept the increased costs, Crédit Mobilier had bribed multiple congressmen. Several prominent UP board members (including Durant) had been involved in the scheme. The ensuing financial crisis of 1873 led to a credit crunch, but not bankruptcy.

As boom followed bust, the Union Pacific continued to expand. A new company, with dominant stockholder Jay Gould, purchased the old on January 24, 1880. Gould already owned the Kansas Pacific (originally called the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, though in essence a separate railroad), and sought to merge it with UP. Through that merger, the original "Union Pacific Rail Road" transformed into "Union Pacific Railway".

Extending towards the Pacific Northwest, Union Pacific built or purchased local lines to reach Portland, Oregon. Towards Colorado, it built the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway: a system combining narrow-gauge trackage into the heart of the Rockies and a standard gauge line that ran south from Denver, across New Mexico, and into Texas.

The Union Pacific Railway would later declare bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. The resulting corporate reorganization reversed Gould's name change: Union Pacific "Railway" merged into a new Union Pacific "Railroad".

Union Pacific in the 20th century

In the early 20th century, Union Pacific's focus shifted from expansion to internal improvement. Recognizing that farmers in the Central and Salinas Valleys of California grew produce far in excess of local markets, Union Pacific worked with its rival Southern Pacific to develop a spoilage-resistant rail-based transport system. These efforts came culminated in the 1906 founding of Pacific Fruit Express, soon to be the world's largest lessee of refrigerated railcars.

Meanwhile, Union Pacific worked to construct a faster, and more direct substitute for the original climb to Promontory Summit. In 1904, the Lucin cutoff opened, reducing curvature and grades. The original route would eventually be stripped of track in 1942 to provide war scrap.

To attract customers during the Great Depression, Union Pacific's chairman W. Averell Harriman simultaneously sought to "spruce up" the quality of its rolling stock and to make its unique locations more desirable travel destinations. The first effort resulted in the purchase of the first streamlined train: the M-10000. The latter resulted in the Sun Valley ski resort in central Idaho; it opened in 1936 and finally was sold in 1964. Despite the fact that the M-10000 and its successors were among the first diesel locomotives, Union Pacific completed dieselization relatively late. In 1944, UP finally received delivery of its last steam locomotive: Union Pacific 844.

As the 20th century waned, Union Pacific recognized—like most railroads—that remaining a regional railroad would only lead to bankruptcy. On December 31, 1925, UP and its subsidiaries operated 9,834 miles (15,826 km) routes and 15,265 miles (24,567 km) tracks; in 1980, these numbers had remained roughly constant (9,266 route-miles and 15,647 track-miles). But in 1982, UP acquired the Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads, and 1988, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas. By 1993, Union Pacific had doubled its system to 17,385 miles (27,978 km) routes.

By then, few large (class I) railroads remained. The same year that Union Pacific merged with the Chicago and North Western (1995), Burlington Northern and ATSF announced merger plans. The impending BNSF amalgamation would leave one mega-railroad in control of the west. To compete, UP merged with Southern Pacific, thereby incorporating D&RGW and Cotton Belt, and forming a duopoly in the West. The merged railroad took the Union Pacific name. As of 1999, the UP had 33,705 miles (54,243 km) of track, about 33,000 employees, nearly 7,000 locomotives and over 155,000 rail cars.

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
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
1993 220,697

Union Pacific in the 21st century

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2024)

In March 2024 Union Pacific layoffs caused concern at the Federal Railroad Administration to the extent that the FRA, in a letter to UP's CEO, said "safety of railroad operations is paramount ... decisions that comprise that fundamental ... are unacceptable. You must ensure that highly trained and experienced personnel perform critical inspections and repairs .... Your railroad (layoffs) are far outpacing any of your Class 1 peers."

In 2024 the railway celebrated 150 years of having its headquarters in Omaha.

The railway's Big Boy #4014, the world's largest operating steam locomotive, will visit 14 states in middle America in 2024. Twenty-five locomotives of Big Boy's size were fabricated during World War II, but only Big Boy survives. Its "Heartland of America" tour begins in August 2024 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and visits Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas through October.

Another locomotive, UP No. 4141, is named in honor of George H. W. Bush, the US 41st President and is exhibited at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Center at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. The locomotive is custom painted in the colors of GWH Bush's Air Force One. The engine also pulled the president's funeral train on his final journey to College Station in 2018.

Facilities

Intermodal terminal just outside Santa Teresa, New Mexico, used for exchanging freight with trucks from Mexico
Ogden, Utah, yard

The Union Pacific system includes hundreds of yards. Most are flat yards used for local switching. Other types of yards include intermodal terminals and hump yards. Most UP intermodal terminals are typically ports, but UP also has inland terminals for transfers to trucks, such as the terminal in San Antonio that opened in 2009 or the one in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, that opened in 2014.

Hump yards

In 2006, Union Pacific had 11 major active hump yards:

Roseville Rail Yard

In the late 2010s, Union Pacific began deactivating hump yards in favor of flat switching. In this, Union Pacific followed the industry-wide trend towards Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR); railway executive Hunter Harrison explained that under PSR, few yards receive enough variegated traffic to necessitate a hump. Union Pacific also closed facilities in Kansas City ("Neff yard"), Hinkle, Oregon, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 2019.

Locomotives and rolling stock

Union Pacific has owned some of the most powerful locomotives. These include members of the Challenger-type (including the 3985), and the Northern-type (including the 844), as well as the Big Boy steam locomotives (including the 4014). Union Pacific ordered the first diesel streamliner, the largest fleet of turbine-electric locomotives in the world, and the largest diesel locomotives ever built (including 6936).

Paint and colors

Union Pacific #9214, a GE Dash 8-40C, shows the standard UP diesel locomotive livery on May 10, 1991

The yellow paint scheme was introduced in the spring of 1934. Engineers claimed the visibility of yellow would reduce grade crossing accidents. In 1941, UP introduced its yellow and gray color scheme with red highlights, which remains in use today.

The middle two-thirds of the locomotive body is painted Armour Yellow, a color used by Armour and Company on the packaging of its meat products. A thin band of Signal Red divides this from the Harbor Mist Gray (a light gray) used for the body and roof above that point. There is also a thin band of Signal Red along the bottom of the locomotive body, but this color has gradually become yellow as new Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) regulations for reflectorized tape came into effect in 2005; the trucks (painted Aluminum from 1955 to 1982), underframe, fuel tanks and everything else beneath that line are also Harbor Mist Gray. Lettering and numbering are in Signal Red, with black outlines. Most locomotives have white-outlined blue "wings" on the nose, on either side of the renowned shield featuring white lettering on a blue background and, below it, red and white vertical stripes. Beginning in early 2002, a number of units were repainted with a large, billowing American flag with the corporate motto "Building America" on the side, where the 'UNION PACIFIC' lettering is normally positioned.

UP locomotive GE AC4400CW #5645 in Battle Creek, Michigan, with the Flags and Flares paint scheme
Union Pacific #5391, approaching bridge at Multnomah Falls, Oregon, shows the white-outlined blue "wings" on the nose.
Union Pacific #6419, in Checotah, Oklahoma, with the Flags and Flares paint scheme leads a train on June 26, 2021

Merger partner locomotives

A former Southern Pacific GP38-2 locomotive renumbered with UP "patch" markings

Until 2017, UP operated some locomotives still in the paint scheme of their former railroads. In addition, some locomotives were renumbered by UP, varying in the degree of the previous railroads' logos being eradicated, but always with a yellow patch applied over the locomotive's former number and a new UP number applied on the cab. That allowed UP to number locomotives into its roster without spending the time and money necessary to perform a complete repaint. In May 2015, UP rostered 212 "patches", consisting of:

  • 22 Chicago and North Western (whose CNW logos have been hidden by the "patches"),
  • 174 Southern Pacific (AC4400CW, GP40-2, MP15AC, and GP60)
  • 14 St. Louis Southwestern (GP60)
  • 2 Denver and Rio Grande Western (GP60)
  • While not technically a predecessor locomotive in the traditional sense, UP also rostered a single SD40-2 (3564, since retired) still in the 1970s paint scheme, not counting DDA40X No. 6936, which was part of the Union Pacific Heritage Fleet until 2022.

In 2017, Union Pacific decided to repaint all locomotives which were not in the current corporate colors. As of March 2018, only 41 locomotives remained unpainted.

Commemorative color schemes

From the second half of 2005 to the summer of 2006, UP unveiled a new set of six EMD SD70ACe locomotives in "Heritage Colors", painted in schemes reminiscent of railroads acquired by the Union Pacific Corporation since the 1980s. The engine numbers match the year that the predecessor railroad became part of the Union Pacific system. The locomotives commemorate the Missouri Pacific with UP 1982, the Western Pacific with UP 1983, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas with UP 1988, the Chicago and North Western with UP 1995, the Southern Pacific with UP 1996, and the Denver and Rio Grande Western with UP 1989.

In October 2005, UP unveiled SD70ACe 4141, commissioned in honor of George Bush. The locomotive has "George Bush 41" on the sides and its paint scheme resembles that of Air Force One. It was sent into storage in 2007, but returned in 2018 to power Bush's funeral train. It was donated to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on November 8, 2019.

On March 31, 2010, UP dedicated a specially painted GE ES44AC locomotive commemorating the centennial of the Boy Scouts of America.

On September 28, 2010, UP dedicated a specially painted GE ES44AC locomotive, as a tribute to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

On October 19, 2017, Union Pacific unveiled SD70AH 1943, "The Spirit of the Union Pacific", which is painted in a scheme to honor the United States armed forces.

On June 6, 2019, Union Pacific unveiled SD70ACe 1111, the "Powered By Our People" unit.

In April 2021, Union Pacific repainted an SD70M into a commemorative paint scheme called "We Are ONE" to honor Juneteenth and Pride Month.

UP also has a collection of locomotives painted for Operation Lifesaver, a rail safety organization founded in 1970.

Locomotive roster

As of December 2023, the Union Pacific had 7,175 locomotives on its active roster consisting of 42 different models.

Type Quantity
C40-8 3
C40-8W 7
C41-8W 28
C44-9W 217
C44AC 511
C44ACCTE 543
C44ACM 655
C45ACCTE 937
C45AH 465
CCRCL 6
E9 2
GP15-1 46
GP15N 22
GP22 10
GP38-2 85
GP38N 167
GP39-2 10
GP39N 7
GP40-2 61
GP40N 129
GP59ECO 1
GP60 137
GP60E 33
GP62 16
MP15AC 1
PS4B 1
PS6B 67
RP18G 14
SD40-2 2
SD40N 486
SD59MX 28
SD60 45
SD60E 1
SD60M 132
SD62 18
SD62E 13
SD70ACe 510
SD70AH 368
SD70M 1,365
SD9043AC 23
SNOW PLOW 1
STEAM 2

Heritage equipment

Main article: Union Pacific heritage fleet

Union Pacific continues to use a small number of "heritage" steam locomotives and early streamlined diesel locomotives. This equipment is used on special charters (excursions).

Type Quantity
4-8-8-4 Big Boy 1
4-8-4 FEF-3 1
E9A 2
E9B 1
Big Boy #4014 passes through Friesland, Wisconsin, on July 25, 2019

Low-emissions locomotives

Union Pacific maintains a fleet of low-emissions locomotives. Most are used in Los Angeles basin rail yards, to satisfy an air quality agreement with the local authorities.

One of the 20 new 2,000 horsepower (1,500 kW) "Green Goat" locomotives manufactured for Union Pacific's "Green" Fleet by Railpower Technologies
Type Quantity
2GS14B 1
GP22T4 10
MP20B 13
3GS21B 59
PR30C ≥6
GG20GE 21
Others ≤71

Facts and figures

Two UP AC4400CWs, including an ex-CNW unit, lead a typical empty coal train west at Belvidere, Nebraska, in July 2015.

According to UP's 2007 Annual Report to Investors, at the end of 2007 it had more than 50,000 employees, 8,721 locomotives, and 94,284 freight cars.

Broken down by specific type of car, owned and leased:

In addition, it owns 6,950 different pieces of maintenance of way work equipment. At the end of 2007, the average age of UP's locomotive fleet was 14.8 years, the freight car fleet 28 years.

UP was ranked 134th on the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue and had 41,967 employees. The Chief Executive Officer of Union Pacific since August 14, 2023, is Jim Vena, the President is Beth Whited, and the chairman of the board is Mike McCarthy.

In 2019, Union Pacific has been rated the worst company to work for by 247wallst.com, citing Past CEO Lance Fritz's 12% approval rating and the 22% recommendation rating from Glassdoor.com.

Passenger service

A CNW North Line train stops at Wilmette, Illinois, in 1963.

Commuter services

When Union Pacific bought out the Chicago & North Western in 1995, it inherited the railroad's Metra commuter rail services in the Chicago metropolitan area: the Union Pacific North Line to Kenosha, Wisconsin, Northwest Line to Harvard, Illinois, and West Line to Elburn, Illinois, all of which operate from Ogilvie Transportation Center (the former North Western Station–a name still used by many Chicago residents). In order to ensure uniformity across the Chicago area commuter rail system, trains are branded as Metra services and use Metra equipment. However, Union Pacific crews continue to operate the trains under a purchase-of-service agreement. In 2023, UP announced its intentions to surrender the control and operation of commuter rail services and trains in Chicago to Metra, however the UP would retain ownership and control of the right-of-ways of former Chicago & Northwestern lines radiating from Chicago.

Former services

Wine label, Roma Wine Company, bottled for Union Pacific RR circa 1940s

Between 1869 and 1971, Union Pacific operated passenger service throughout its historic "Overland Route". These trains ran between Chicago and Omaha on the Chicago & Northwestern trackage starting in 1936. Disputes over trackage rights and passenger revenues with the C&NW prompted the UP to switch to the Milwaukee Road for the handling of its streamliner trains between Chicago and Omaha beginning in late 1955. The last intercity passenger train operated by UP was the westbound City of Los Angeles, arriving at Los Angeles Union Station on May 2. Since then, Union Pacific has satisfied its common carrier requirements by hosting Amtrak trains.

Hosted trains

Many Amtrak and commuter rail routes use Union Pacific rails. This list excludes the commuter services the company directly operates in Chicago (see above).

Amtrak

Commuter trains

Notable accidents and safety

21st century

  • September 4, 2007: a Union Pacific train derailment split the small town of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. About 16 cars derailed, most carrying salt that spilled into snow-like piles. The derailment interrupted traffic for about two hours.
  • June 24, 2012: three crew members died and caused a property damage of $15 million when two Union Pacific trains collided head-on just east of Goodwell, Oklahoma. The eastbound train passed a stop signal on the main track and struck the westbound train in a siding about one mile (1.6 km) east of the meeting point. The NTSB provided the probable causes as eastbound train's operator's vision problems and failure by the conductor to get backup assistance as required. NTSB stated UP did not comply with its own policies when it medically recertified the operator. The company only had six color tests despite the policy requiring a color test for 10 signals.
  • November 15, 2012: A UP train struck a parade float in Midland, Texas, killing four and injuring 16 passengers on the parade float.
  • May 25, 2013: in Chaffee, Missouri, a Union Pacific train collided with a BNSF train at a level junction, injuring seven, and causing damages exceeding $10 million. The accident caused a Missouri Route M overpass to partially collapse and caused a fire. The investigation concluded the engineer most likely fell asleep, due to sleep apnea. The uncontrolled train violated four progressively more restrictive signals before colliding with the BNSF train at roughly 40 mph (64 km/h). Three months later, the Route M overpass reopened with a new design.
  • June 3, 2016: a 96-car oil train derailed in the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier, Oregon. Eleven cars derailed, at least one caught on fire, and 42,000 US gal (160 m) of Bakken crude oil spilled, some going into the Columbia River. Some 10,000 US gallons (38 m) were eventually recovered.
    Support column damaged in September 2019 Portland accident
  • Mid-late 2018: the Niland Geyser, a moving mud pot, encroached on the railroad near the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, requiring extensive engineering work to first delay the movement and then build a temporary diversion.
  • September 7, 2019: a Union Pacific train of two locomotives and three tank cars carrying liquefied petroleum gas derailed and crashed into an overpass support column at the Albina Yard in Portland, Oregon. The support column is for the eastbound lanes of the six-lane Going Street overpass, which is the only public access to the major industrial area Swan Island for cars and trucks. Four lanes were left unsafe after the derailment. Two of six lanes remain closed as of November 14, 2019. The cause of the crash was broken rails. There was nobody on board the train which was remotely operated at the time of crash. In May 2020, another Union Pacific derailment damaged a different overpass which The Skanner described as an ongoing safety concern.
  • March 21, 2022: A Union Pacific freight train derailed and fell from a viaduct in Colton, California.
  • September 2023: The railroad furloughed 138 workers, a small fraction of its 50,000 employees, but enough to cause a reprimand from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that indicated its inspection of UP trains determined the rates of defects in locomotives and cars was double the national average, which the FRA said, was caused by a dearth of personnel.
  • December 18, 2024: A Union Pacific train crashed into a semi-truck that was hauling an oversize load in Pecos, Texas, resulting in all four locomotives and multiple freight cars with metal shipping containers derailing, including three that were carrying potentially hazardous materials (lithium-ion batteries and airbags), but none were released. Leaked diesel fuel was also contained. The Pecos Chamber of Commerce was also damaged as it was hit by the train during the derailment. Two Union Pacific employees were killed and 3 others were injured.

San Antonio area

On June 28, 2004, a UP train collided with an idle BNSF train in a San Antonio suburb. In the course of the derailment, a 90-ton tank car carrying liquified chlorine was punctured. As the chlorine vaporized, a toxic "yellow cloud" formed, killing three and causing 43 hospitalizations. The costs of cleanup and property damaged during the incident exceeded $7 million.

Deadly derailment in Macdona, Texas, on June 28, 2004

Investigations of the Macdona incident revealed several serious safety lapses on the part of the Union Pacific and its employees, including employees not following the company's own safety rules. While the immediate cause of the derailment was the UP crew's "fatigue", chlorine tank cars had been improperly placed near the front of the train, a danger in the case of derailment.

The Macdona incident was not the first derailment in the San Antonio area. Between May and November 1994, Union Pacific trains derailed five times, killing at least 4 people. Between June 2004 and March 2005, 10 trains derailed, killing as many people.

In the aftermath of Macdona, the Federal Railroad Administration signed a compliance agreement with the railroad in which the railroad promised to rectify the "notable deficiencies" that regulators found. But the relative impunity UP seemed to exhibit regarding the derailment led to suggestions that the FRA was far "too cozy ... to the railroads." In March 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry supported a plan to reroute trains around large urban population centers in Texas, including San Antonio, but such a plan was purely voluntary and had no timetable associated.

Trains have continued to derail in the area including an incident in June 2009 where tank cars containing chlorine and petroleum naptha xylene derailed, but did not spill.

Community responsibility

Transient camp and graffiti issues

The City of San Jose, California, threatened Union Pacific with a lawsuit in 2019 after years of complaints about transient and graffiti blight going unaddressed. For the first time in many years, Union Pacific cleaned out along the tracks starting in November 2019. San Jose Councilman Sergio Jimenez said "The reality is that Union Pacific has not been a good neighbor".

San Jose's mayor Sam Liccardo said

"At any given conference of mayors, you won't hear anyone expressing confidence that Union Pacific will respond nimbly or collaboratively," and "But we are hopeful that the (memorandum of understanding) will turn a page on Union Pacific's behavior in the past to enable a more collaborative relationship going forward."

The Mercury News reports that company has been uncooperative and non responsive to working together, such as failing to come through with graffiti abatement as Union Pacific had promised the city.

2022 Utah legislative action

In 2022, legislators in Utah brought forth two separate bills specifically aimed at Union Pacific. The first, HB181, was raised after some municipalities encountered resistance from Union Pacific when attempting to upgrade rail crossings. In Logan, Utah, Union Pacific altered a construction agreement to require the city to pay maintenance fees in perpetuity for an upgraded crossing, a mandate which was against state code. The proposed legislation would make it easier for municipalities to get crossing improvements approved, and clarifies which party must pay associated maintenance costs. HB181 was ultimately passed.

Environmental record

In Eugene, Oregon, where pollution from a century-old rail yard has been seeping into groundwater, the UP and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality launched a study of ground contamination in 2008. The pollutants are mostly petroleum hydrocarbons, industrial solvents, and metals.

In 2007, Union Pacific Railroad worked with the US EPA to develop a way to reduce locomotive exhaust emissions. They discovered that adding an oxidation catalyst filtering canister to the diesel engine's exhaust manifold and using ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel would reduce particulate emissions by about half, unburned hydrocarbons by 38 percent, and carbon monoxide by 82 percent.

The company's Fuel Master program rewards locomotive engineers who save the most fuel each month. The program has saved the company millions of dollars, much of which has been returned to the engineers. In 2006, the program's founder, Wayne Kennedy, received the John H. Chafee Environmental Award, and the program was recognized by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.

In January 2018, a former waste water operator at Union Pacific Albina Yard in Portland, Oregon, employed by the railroad's contractor Mott MacDonald negligently released thousands of gallons of oil into the environment. The operator was distracted by a cell phone and allowed the tank to overflow for over an hour. An engineering firm hired by Union Pacific estimates 1,800 U.S. gallons (6,800 liters) of it was released into nearby Willamette River, not including the spill that was captured by the containment booms. Employees of United States Environmental Protection Agency who were working at facilities nearby placed booms to contain the oil spill. Federal prosecutors have charged the operator Robert LaRue Webb II with violation of the Clean Water Act for releasing the oil into the environment. Webb pleaded guilty in August 2019, and was sentenced to two years probation and a $2,500 fine.

In 2016, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. was named as a defendant in a lawsuit seeking cleanup of a contaminated rail yard site that operated in Lafayette, Louisiana, from the late 1800s until the 1960s.

In 2020, Houston residents living near a Union Pacific Railroad Company rail yard filed lawsuits against the Union Pacific. These lawsuits followed the finding by the State of Texas of a higher-than-expected incidence of certain cancers in residents living close to the yard. A State of Texas report released in 2021 identified an additional cancer cluster of lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

In 2022, the state of Utah proposed bill, HB405, which would have required Union Pacific to replace their aging fleet of Tier 0 switching locomotives with hydrogen or electric engines by 2028, due to Utah having very poor air quality in winter months. According to Utah Senator Schultz, Union Pacific was uncooperative on the switching locomotive bill if Utah did not drop the railroad crossings bill. HB405 was dropped after Union Pacific made voluntary commitments to replace several tier 0 switching locomotives with less polluting tier 2 locomotives, as well as to test some all electric ones in the Utah Roper Rail Yard.

Wabtec is modernizing 600 older Union Pacific locomotives over a three-year period through 2025. The modernizations will improve fuel efficiency and reliability of these locomotives while also reducing emissions.

Equipment Management Pool (EMP)

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern are the largest owner-partners of Equipment Management Pool (EMP), a domestic freight interline intermodal freight transport service that rents and moves more than 35,000 53-foot containers and chassis throughout North America. Other partners in the freight company include Canadian National Railway, I&M Rail Link, Iowa Interstate Railroad, and Wisconsin Central Ltd. In 2022, the Canadian Pacific Railway, one year prior to its merger with the Kansas City Southern Railway, was dropped from the pool, leaving CN as the only Canadian member.

Union Pacific Railroad Museum

The Union Pacific Railroad Museum

The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is a former Carnegie library in Council Bluffs, Iowa, that houses artifacts, photographs, and documents that trace the development of the railroad and the American West. The company pays upkeep on the privately owned building, which houses part of Union Pacific's corporate collection, one of the oldest in the United States. Holdings include weapons from the late 19th and 20th centuries, outlaw paraphernalia, a sampling of the immigrants' possessions, and a photograph collection comprising more than 500,000 images.

See also

Notes

  1. Includes subsidiaries Oregon Short Line Railroad, Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway, but not jointly-owned subsidiaries Spokane International Railroad or Mount Hood Railroad.
  2. ^ Does not include LNP&W, S&EV, or P&IN
  3. Does not include jointly-owned subsidiaries Spokane International Railroad or Mount Hood Railroad; entry for 1993 includes all subsidiaries
  4. Includes subsidiaries Oregon Short Line Railroad, Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway.
  5. Merger partner D&RGW elected not to join Amtrak and continued operating the Rio Grande Zephyr until 1983.
  6. ^ This service runs on its own dedicated tracks within a UP right of way.

References

  1. "EMPLOYER STATUS DETERMINATION Union Pacific Railroad Company Southern Pacific Transportation Company" (PDF). Railroad Retirement Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 8, 2022. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  2. "Company Overview". Union Pacific Corporation. December 31, 2013. Retrieved March 27, 2014.
  3. "An Act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean, and to secure to the government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes Archived May 27, 2016, at the Wayback Machine 12 Stat. 489, July 1, 1862
  4. Borneman, Walter R. (2010). Rival Rails: The Race to Build America's Greatest Transcontinental Railroad. Random House. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4000-6561-5.
  5. Bain, David Haward (1999). Empire Express: Building the First Transcontinental Railroad. Viking. pp. 114–115. ISBN 0-670-80889-X.
  6. White, Richard (2011). Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America. W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0-393-06126-0.
  7. Collins, R.M. (2010). Irish Gandy Dancer: A tale of building the Transcontinental Railroad. Seattle: Create Space. p. 198. ISBN 978-1-4528-2631-8.
  8. Progress of the Union Pacific railroad west from Omaha, Nebraska, across the continent, making,: with its connections, an unbroken line from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean (Pamphlet ed.). 15 Vandewater Street, L. O.: C. A. Alvord. April 2, 1868. p. 5. This aid was given to two powerful companies, viz., to The Union Pacific Railroad Company, building from Omaha, on the Missouri river, West; and to The Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, building from Sacramento, East.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) Text taken from OCR; may be corrupt.
  9. "Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah". World Digital Library. May 10, 1869. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  10. "First Transcontinental Railroad and Stanford forever linked". news.stanford.edu. Retrieved July 9, 2024.
  11. City, Mailing Address: P. O. Box 897 Brigham; Us, UT 84302 Phone: 435 471-2209 x429 Contact. "Four Special Spikes - Golden Spike National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved July 9, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. Solomon, Brian (2000). Union Pacific Railroad. Osceola, WI: MBI. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-7603-0756-4.
  13. Crawford, Jay Boyd (1880). The Credit Mobilier of America: Its Origin and History. Boston: C. W. Calkins & Co. p. 101.
  14. Ripley, William Zebina (1915). Railroads: Finance and Organization. New York: Longmans, Green, & Company. pp. 249–250. gould.
  15. "PNWC-NRHS". Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Company. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  16. Solomon, Brian (2000). Union Pacific Railroad. Voyageur Press. pp. 35–43. ISBN 9781610605595.
  17. "Post-Construction". Union Pacific. Archived from the original on September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  18. "Pacific Fruit Express Company Forms". Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  19. "Lucin Cutoff Opens". Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  20. "M-10000 Streamliner Debuts". Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2018. See also in the sidebar: "By 1936, Union Pacific’s shiny new Streamliners had begun to attract passengers back to the railroad, but the Depression was keeping passenger counts low."
  21. "Union Pacific Railroad invention still takes skiers to the top". Union Pacific Railroad. November 29, 2010. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  22. Lund, Morten (2000). "An extraordinary history of Sun Valley". Skiing Heritage Journal. pp. 20–25.
  23. "UP Receives Its Last New Steam Locomotive". Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  24. 1980 mileage is from Moody's Transportation Manual (1981); the ICC's Transport Statistics says Union Pacific System operated 8,614 route-miles at year end 1980, but the 1979 issue says 9,315 route-miles and the 1981 says 9,096, so their 1980 figures look unlikely.
  25. ^ "Mergers since 1980". Trains. 76 (11): 31. November 2016. ProQuest 1820289392. (Sidebar on "Transcon Mergers" article.)
  26. Solomon, Brian (2000). Union Pacific Railroad. Voyageur Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-1610605595.
  27. ^ ICC annual reports
  28. ^ Moody's report
  29. Kenn, Mary (April 2, 2024). "Are Railroad Layoffs Compromising Safety and Service?". DTN Progressive Farmer.
  30. Griffith, Nicole (June 21, 2024). "Union Pacific Railroad has called Omaha home for 150 years". www.kbtx.com.
  31. "Rail News - Union Pacific slates Big Boy steam locomotive's fall tour. For Railroad Career Professionals". Progressive Railroading.
  32. "Union Pacific No. 4141 on Permanent Display at George H.W. Bush Presidential Center". www.up.com.
  33. Arbona, Joe (August 22, 2007). "Union Pacific Begins Construction of $90 Million State-of-the-Art Intermodal Terminal in Southwest Bexar County". San Antonio, Texas: Union Pacific. Retrieved April 2, 2015.
  34. Espinoza, Raquel (March 11, 2009). "Union Pacific Railroad Opens New San Antonio Intermodal Terminal". San Antonio, Texas: Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
  35. "Rockin' and Railroading at the Santa Teresa Intermodal Facility". up.com. Union Pacific. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
  36. "North America's Hump Yards". Trains. July 8, 2006. Archived from the original on December 4, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  37. "West Colton Yard" (PDF) (Press release). Union Pacific. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 6, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
  38. Ziobro, Paul (April 18, 2017). "New CSX CEO Shakes up the Railroad, Starting with 'Hump Yards'". Wall Street Journal. 'Hump yards are very complicated and expensive and work when you're bringing things in from lots of directions'...'The more you do preblocking, the more you don't need the complexity-solving machine that is a hump yard.'
  39. Cordes, Henry J. (October 20, 2019). "Union Pacific sees 'outstanding' results 1 year into efficiency push, but workforce has been cut 13%". North Platte Telegraph. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
  40. Brian Solomon (1981). Union Pacific Railroad. Voyageur Press. p. 91. ISBN 9781610605595.
  41. Union Pacific Bulletin. UPRR. 1950. p. 13. New Dress for Spring in 1934. Since that time, all streamliner passenger equipment has been painted the ... Yellow is widely used where high visibility is desired as a safety feature. Union Pacific engineers claim that use of yellow on U.P. trains will further reduce the incidence of grade crossing accidents, especially at night. Nighttime visibility is increased still more by use of red reflection Union
  42. Welsh, Joe. Union Pacific's Streamliners. Voyageur Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-61673-115-1.
  43. Strack, Don (August 25, 2015). "Armour Yellow on Union Pacific". UtahRails.net. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  44. Guss, Chris (March 2018). "Perfecting a unified look". Trains. 78 (3): 14. ProQuest 1988415135.
  45. "Denver & Rio Grande Western Colors Again Ride the Rails" (Press release). Union Pacific Railroad. June 19, 2006. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  46. Wrinn, Jim (November 8, 2019). "Union Pacific donates SD70ACe No. 4141 to George H.W. Bush Presidential Library; Big Boy 4014 joins celebration". TrainsMag.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  47. "Union Pacific Donates George H.W. Bush Engine 4141 To The Bush Library And Museum". wtaw.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  48. "Union Pacific Railroad Unveils No. 2010 Boy Scouts of America Commemorative Locomotive" (Press release). Union Pacific Railroad. March 31, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2010.
  49. "Union Pacific Railroad Unveils Its Pink Ribbon Locomotive" (Press release). Union Pacific Railroad. September 28, 2010. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  50. Cotey, Angela (October 19, 2017). "'Spirit of the Union Pacific' is the newest heritage unit". Trains. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  51. "UP unveils 'Powered by our People' special paint scheme | Trains Magazine". Archived from the original on June 8, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  52. ""We Are ONE" Commemorative Locomotive Debuts". Union Pacific. May 27, 2021. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  53. Bogdanich, Walt; Nordberg, Jenny (January 23, 2005). "Highway Agency Disavows Claims by Rail Safety Group". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  54. "Union Pacific Locomotive Roster". UP.com. December 2023. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  55. "UP: Steam". Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  56. "E-9 Streamliners". Union Pacific. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  57. "New Ultra-Low Emission Locomotive Goes to Work in Union Pacific's Los Angeles Basin Rail Yards". Union Pacific. Retrieved January 19, 2017.
  58. Guss, Chris (August 2018). "Few flowers for gensets". Trains. 78 (8): 18–19. ProQuest 2056018178.
  59. Luczak, Marybeth (July 26, 2023). "UP: Vena, Whited, McCarthy to Split CEO, President and Chair Posts". Railway Age. Archived from the original on March 5, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  60. "Union Pacific Appoints Jim Vena Chief Executive Officer". www.up.com. July 26, 2023. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  61. "Executive Profiles". UP.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2024. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  62. "Union Pacific". Fortune. Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  63. Parker, Garrett (August 20, 2019). "The 20 Worst Companies to Work For in 2019". Money Inc. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  64. Lassen, David (July 22, 2020). "STB filings detail Metra, UP disagreement (updated)". Trains Magazine. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
  65. "Metra History". Metra. August 10, 2018. Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved August 10, 2018.
  66. See Solomon, Brian, Railroad Color History: Union Pacific Railroad, p. 72 (photo of last westbound City of Los Angeles taken at Las Vegas on May 2, 1971). MBI Publishing, 2000.
  67. "Scenic route to be taken by Amtrak". Eugene Register-Guard. March 17, 1983. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
  68. Alicia Ebaugh, Journal staff writer (September 4, 2007). "Derailment cuts traffic in Sergeant Bluff". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  69. "NTSB: Why didn't train wait before Oklahoma crash?". The Washington Times. June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
  70. "Train engineer's vision problems led to deadly Oklahoma wreck, NTSB rules". Oklahoman.com. June 18, 2013. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  71. "NTSB Launches Go-Team to Missouri to Investigate Collision Between Two Freight Trains That Partially Collapsed a Highway Overpass". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  72. Hendricks, Christy. "NTSB investigating after train collision, overpass collapse in Scott County". KFVS12. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  73. "HQ-2013-13 (Finalized) | FRA". Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  74. "Local News Releases". Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  75. Reyes-Velarde, Alejandra; Lin II, Rong-Gong (November 1, 2018). "A San Andreas fault mystery: The 'slow-moving disaster' in an area where the Big One is feared". Los Angeles Times.
  76. Andrews, Robin George (November 9, 2018). "A bubbling pool of mud is on the move, and no one knows why". National Geographic. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021.
  77. Francuch, Dean G; Deane, Travis; Zamora, Carol (2019). "The meandering Mundo Mud Pot: Or how Salton Sea tectonics affect international trade". Proceedings of the 70th Highway Geology Symposium: 439–456.
  78. "Union Pacific train with liquefied gas derails in Portland". Associated Press. September 7, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  79. "Union Pacific train derails in Portland's Albina Yard, cracks support beam of overpass". Fox 12 Oregon. September 7, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  80. Young, Molly (September 8, 2019). "Swan Island traffic could be backed up for months after train slams into vital Going Street bridge". The Oregonian. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  81. ^ Theen, Andrew (September 25, 2019). "Portland approves $1 million repair contract for Going Street bridge smashed by train". oregonlive. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  82. Stein, Rosemarie (November 14, 2019). "Portland metro Thursday traffic: PBOT gets a fourth lane open on Going Street Bridge". oregonlive. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  83. "Union Pacific identifies broken rail as cause of Portland train derailment, crash into columns". Fox 12 Oregon. September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  84. Sorenson, Saundra. "Three-Car Derailment in North Portland Signals Ongoing Safety Concerns". The Skanner News. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
  85. "Freight train derails in Colton". KTLA. March 21, 2022. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  86. Fung, Esther (September 21, 2023). "Union Pacific Draws Safety Regulator's Ire After Worker Furloughs". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 19, 2024.
  87. "Union Pacific train derails after hitting tractor-trailer on Texas railroad tracks, killing two: video". December 19, 2024.
  88. "Chlorine Rail Car Incident" (PDF). Aristatek. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  89. ^ Nordberg, Jenny; Bogdanich, Walt (November 17, 2004). "Regulators Plan to Step Up Union Pacific Safety Checks". The New York Times.
  90. "NTSB – Remarks by Robert L. Sumwalt". National Transportation Safety Board. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
  91. "Man Killed in Fifth Train Derailment in San Antonio Since May". The New York Times. November 11, 2004. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  92. ^ Bogdanich, Walt (March 19, 2005). "Texas Has Pact With Railroad To Move Lines". The New York Times.
  93. "Train derailment leaves big mess". pro8news. Archived from the original on March 8, 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  94. "Train derails near New Braunfels". San Antonio Express News. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  95. Davila, Vianna (November 4, 2009). "UP train derails in Atascosa County". San Antonio Express News. Archived from the original on September 4, 2012. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  96. "Train derails near Schulenburg, spills chemical". The Victoria Advocate. Retrieved April 15, 2010.
  97. "Schulenburg Train Derailment". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
  98. ^ "San Jose: In tense meeting, Union Pacific tells residents night horns will continue". The Mercury News. June 5, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  99. "San Jose homeless encampments cleared along Union Pacific railroad tracks". The Mercury News. December 14, 2019. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
  100. Webb, Kat (June 20, 2022). "New Traffic Signal Left on 'Red': Logan Claims Union Pacific Trying to Railroad Them with Perpetual Fees". The Herald Journal. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  101. ^ "Utah Lawmakers, Union Pacific Make Nice: Bill to Force Clean Switchers Put on Hold". Deseret News. March 1, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  102. ^ "Utah Bill Aimed at Union Pacific Switch Engines Placed on Hold". Trains. March 2, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  103. "Union Pacific Railyard Cleanup, Eugene". Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Archived from the original on May 26, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  104. "Union Pacific Tests Exhaust Catalyst on Locomotives". Environmental Leader. January 18, 2007. Archived from the original on October 9, 2008. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
  105. "Green Car Congress: DOT Secretary Commends Union Pacific's Conservation Program, Says US Needs to Go on Energy Diet". GreenCarCongress.com. BioAge Media. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
  106. "Portland Man Pleads Guilty to Clean Water Act Violation for Discharging Oil into Willamette River". Department of Justice - U.S. Attorney's Office. August 5, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  107. Bernstein, Maxine (June 24, 2019). "Union Pacific plant operator allowed thousands of gallons of oil to spill into Willamette River, feds say". oregonlive. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  108. Bernstein, Maxine (October 28, 2019). "Former Union Pacific Plant Officer Who Allowed Gallons of Oil to Seep into Willamette River Gets Probation". oregonlive. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  109. "Ex-Railroad Plant Operator Who Allowed Oil Spill Sentenced". AP NEWS. October 29, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  110. Burgess, Richard (February 5, 2016). "Landowners sue to get Lafayette railroad yard cleaned up, concerned about contamination of aquifer: Potential threat to Chicot Aquifer cited". The Advocate. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  111. Douglas, Erin (September 19, 2020). "Residents Sue Union Pacific, Others over Cancer Deaths". NewsBank. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  112. Ernst, Sara Willa (February 3, 2021). "'We Know What We Want': 5th Ward Residents Demand Action after Another Confirmed Cancer Cluster". Houston PBS. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  113. Francis, Bob (August 2, 2022). "Fort Worth plant to modernize Union Pacific locomotives for efficiency, environmental benefits". Fort Worth Report. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  114. "EMP Domestic Container Program". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  115. "Domestic Equipment/EMP | NS Services | Intermodal | Shipping Options | Norfolk Southern". Archived from the original on July 11, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  116. "CPR Increases Intermodal Options through the EMP Container Program". Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved January 2, 2015.
  117. "Union Pacific drops Canadian Pacific from EMP intermodal program". Trains. September 19, 2022. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  118. "Sole Canadian Partner in UP/NS EMP Program". Canadian National Railway. Retrieved June 7, 2023.
  119. "Museum History". UPRR Museum. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  120. "U.P. History and Photos". Retrieved April 2, 2017.

Further reading

Library resources about
Union Pacific Railroad

External links

Class I railroads of North America
Current
United States
Canada
Mexico
Former
1956–present
pre-1956
Timeline
Railroads in italics meet the revenue specifications for Class I status, but are not technically Class I railroads due to being passenger-only railroads with no freight component.
Passenger trains of the Union Pacific Railroad
 
Metra (commuter rail)
Early articulated streamliners
City fleet
Others
Rolling stock
Amtrak
Midwest
California
See also
 
Giant locomotives of the Union Pacific Railroad
 
American Locomotive Company (ALCO)
Electro-Motive Division, GM (EMD)
General Electric (GE)
 
Historic/preserved locomotives owned by Union Pacific
Steam locomotives
Diesel locomotives
Donated
Railroads in Omaha
Depots
Major carriers
Minor carriers
Facilities
Public transportation
Bridges
Manufacturing
Related templates
Transportation
Boulevards
Bridges
Streetcars
Streets
Dow Jones Transportation Average components
Categories: