Only 61% of Houston residents live within a 10-minute walk of a public park. SPARK School Parks Program, a local nonprofit, is working to change that by creating and refurbishing parks at public schools in the Houston area. Funded by a $25,000 grant from Union Pacific's Community Ties Giving Program, SPARK recently refurbished the Edison Middle School park, which it originally built in 2005.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/spark-park-houston-it-240325.htmCEO Jim Vena shares share organizational changes celebrating leaders who've made significant contributions to our company and elevating leaders to new posts in our pursuit of growth as we advance our Safety, Service and Operational Excellence strategy.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/new-exec-appointments-it-240322.htmAt Union Pacific, our training and safety mindset are embedded in everything we do. From building trains, to maintaining tracks and repairing rail cars – for the safety of every employee, mental health is always a top priority. To support these efforts, Union Pacific's Employee Assistance Program (EAP) has recently hosted a series of classes for new field volunteers deepening their understanding of company services, programs, policies, benefits and outreach efforts.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/eap-volunteers-workplace-it-240321.htmUnion Pacific continues making progress towards its goal to be the best in safety, investing in people, enhancing infrastructure, transforming culture and harnessing the transformative power of technology.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/world-class-safety-training-it-240319.htmUnion Pacific made history on Jan. 6, 2024, when we became the first Class I railroad to modernize the “big three" core operating platforms: Positive Train Control (PTC), Computer-Aided Dispatch (CADx) and Transportation Management (NetControl).
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/jalali-netcontrol-tech-it-240318.htmMODE Global recently recognized Union Pacific as the 2023 Railroad Carrier of the Year award recipient. This marks the second year in a row that Union Pacific was recognized with this honor.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/mode-carrier-year-it-240314.htmExemplary commitment to railroad safety and community outreach earned David Welch, conductor, and Vernon James, manager-Train Operations, Union Pacific's 2023 Dennis G. Beachler Grade Crossing Safety Award.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/welch-james-beachler-it-240312.htmRailroaders can't become complacent or lose respect for the heavy equipment they work around every day. A close call early in my career brought that message home for me and underscored why safety must always be top of mind.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/terry-hanken-safety-it-240306.htmAs efficiency is king at Union Pacific's Englewood Yard – one of the nation's busiest rail yards, capable of processing nearly 3,000 cars a day – UP's Engineering team recently revamped its process for conducting routine track maintenance.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/englewood-track-rebuild-it-240304.htmNationwide, almost 70% of formerly incarcerated people return to prison within three years of release. The Redemption Project (TRP), a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization, aims to upend this statistic by providing a second chance through education, mentorship and employment.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/minneapolis-second-chance-it-240229.htmAs a critical link in the world's agricultural supply chain, Union Pacific invests considerable time and resources preparing for the fall harvest. U.S. corn and wheat stocks are significantly larger than a year ago, and Union Pacific is leveraging lessons learned from the 2023 harvest when it moved grain cars faster, farther, and more efficiently.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/success-grain-harvest-it-240228.htmThroughout his career representing Union Pacific on Capitol Hill leading the railroad's External Relations team, Printz Bolin has split his life between two very different worlds.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/printz-bolin-retirement-it-240227.htmThrough a partnership with the University of Nebraska Omaha, Union Pacific's Educational Assistance Program makes pursuing higher education a tangible and achievable objective.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/educational-assistance-program-it-240223.htmUnion Pacific's Heartland Service Unit recently claimed its first Safety Bell, the Operating Department's highest annual team safety honor awarded to the service unit with the best overall safety record.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/heartland-safety-bell-it-240213.htmUnion Pacific's Phoenix Transload Facility offers transloading, storage and trucking solutions – but also has a unique item throughout the yard, Blue Hesper Palms.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/phoenix-transload-palms-it-240212.htmThe Home Depot recently recognized Union Pacific as the 2023 Rail Carrier of the Year at its annual Executive Carrier Conference. This marks the third time in four years that Union Pacific has won the award.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/home-depot-recognition-it-240208.htmUnion Pacific's new Phoenix Intermodal Terminal is ready to serve one of the fastest-growing markets in the United States, connecting the Southwest with international ports in Southern California. The facility opened Feb. 1, just 45 days after the railroad's initial announcement.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/phoenix-intermodal-terminal-it-240207.htmAt the start of every workday – typically around 5 a.m. – Union Pacific Senior Special Agent Danny Castaneda packs up his gear and heads to work in Eagle Pass, Texas, with his partner, a K-9 named Saar, in tow.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/special-agent-castaneda-it-240207.htmSince developing our own, secured version of ChatGPT, Union Pacific employees have embraced the technology to generate blog posts and create executive summaries of white papers as well as generate code snippets and analyze and organize large, unstructured data sets.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/ai-chatgpt-tool-it-240205.htmUnion Pacific retired Chairman, President and CEO Lance Fritz has been recognized for his contributions to Nebraska's economy and business environment as a new member of the Nebraska Business Hall of Fame.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/fritz-hall-of-fame-it-240202.htmTo be the best at safety, Union Pacific employees regularly volunteer their time and talent to bring all community stakeholders to the table – from schoolchildren and teen drivers to transportation industry professionals.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/grade-crossing-safety-it-240201.htmUnion Pacific had a rocking good year in 2023 – literally. The railroad hauled a record amount of rock, edging out the previous record set in 2006 by a few hundred carloads and increasing overall carloads by 23% compared with 2021 and 9% compared with 2022.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/record-carloads-of-rock-it-240130.htmOn Eric Gehringer's first day at the railroad nearly 20 years ago, he saw train crews in the yard relying on printed paperwork to do their jobs. Today, the men and women of Union Pacific have that information at the touch of their fingertips on a mobile device. Technological advances in the rail industry are reflecting in numbers showing derailments are declining.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/progress-preventing-derailments-it-240125.htmOur strong fourth quarter results demonstrate what is possible when we work together to deliver Safety, Service and Operational Excellence. Our team is aligned and moving forward with powerful momentum. Being aligned and clear on our objectives gives me great confidence that we have a winning strategy. As we tackle our work together, I am very excited and grateful for what we are achieving for all of our employees and our stakeholders.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/4q23-ceo-letter-it-240125.htmSevere weather systems have persistently impacted Union Pacific's 23-state rail network since early last week, with Team UP continuously battling heavy snowfall, strong winds and subzero temperatures. In the southern part of the network, crews have dealt with tornado warnings, severe thunderstorms and heavy rain.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/winter-weather-operations-it-240119.htmUnion Pacific conducted an emergency response drill in Texas with Jefferson County first responders and ExxonMobil's Beaumont polyethylene plant, sharing information and best practices as part of a mutual aid emergency response drill.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/exxonmobil-emergency-drill-it-240112.htmLocated adjacent to the nation's largest rail hub, Union Pacific's Proviso Locomotive Shop plays a critical role maintaining a locomotive fleet on the move – approximately 1 million rail cars travelled through Illinois in 2022.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/proviso-winter-weather-it-230111.htmThe fire service has been part of the Heard family's legacy for almost 85 years. Chip Heard's dad, brother and three uncles have all served as firefighters, and now his two sons also are career firefighters. All chose this life because they wanted to help others and serve their communities.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/environmental-pro-community-it-240110.htmUnion Pacific is proud to join forces with CertainTeed Roofing, a sustainable exterior and interior building products manufacturer, who broke ground in early December on its new warehouse and distribution center in Bryan, Texas. The new facility will be fully rail optimized.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/facility-bryan-texas-it-240108.htmEvery day, thousands of railroaders come to work at Union Pacific's shops and yards, working with heavy machinery and tools – for the safety of every employee, mental health will always be a priority. Union Pacific employee volunteers are trained with one goal in mind – provide support when it's needed most, with access to immediate resources that can help.
http://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/employee-led-outreach-it-240104.htm