Winter Weather Preparations

Announcement Number: CN2014-38
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: November 10, 2014

To Our Customers,

Starting today, a broad swath of the upper Midwest is experiencing its first winter storm of the season. Some areas have potential for significant snowfall and very cold temperatures over the next several days. This early-season severe weather provides the opportunity to use the lessons learned from the harsh 2013-14 winter that greatly impacted operations in our Northern Region. We know we cannot control Mother Nature, but we learned from our experience last year, and we have taken steps to minimize weather impacts on our customers.

As a result of last year's severe winter, Union Pacific started its winter planning process early this year and formed a cross-functional team to evaluate how we could improve our existing winter action plan. The team looked at how various groups could work together to coordinate rapid response when winter weather conditions warrant and how we could better staff and supply our yards and terminals to minimize the impact of winter weather. Below are a few of the areas of focus:

  • One major initiative was the development of Winter Weather Command Centers located on each service unit in our Northern Region. The command centers will be staffed throughout the winter to make ground-level decisions on such things as train crew deployment, maintenance coordination and contractor management. Each service unit also is providing additional employee training on winter weather working conditions to ensure we can continue to provide the highest level of service possible while maintaining safe working conditions for our employees.
  • Comprehensive plans also have been put together that will help ensure consistency in how each service unit deals with weather conditions. For example, the Mechanical department has developed tighter air line and more stringent air test parameters that will be in effect during the winter. Our Service Design group has developed levels of work event reduction that will be implemented as weather conditions warrant.
  • Union Pacific also has invested in new equipment ranging from jet blowers to portable backup generators to blizzard busses that can transport crews via rail. Furthermore, we are planning to add an additional 50+ switch heaters this year to supplement our existing network of 1,600 switch locations with snow melters or blowers.
  • Mechanical and Engineering department staff  will be increased to ensure adequate and around-the-clock coverage across the Northern Region.
  • Our Service Design and Operations teams analyzed train size and locomotive configurations to determine the optimal designs to use during extreme weather. Having these plans set ahead of time will save time and enable service reliability.

Union Pacific also is working with other railroads to determine how we can best help each other avoid congestion should severe weather cause backups in high-traffic areas. We are confident that we have invested in the right people, processes and equipment to improve our winter weather preparedness.

We thank you for your continued support of Union Pacific. Please contact the National Customer Service Center or your Marketing and Sales representative with any questions.