Update on Winter Weather Recovery

Announcement Number: CN2014-13
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: April 17, 2014

To Our Customers,

For Union Pacific, this past winter was the worst on record in more than 30 years. Several winter storms impacted our network, primarily in the upper Midwest, but also in our Southern region. The quick succession of extreme weather events created a cumulative effect that had impacts on the rail network: rail car inventories increased, train velocity decreased, locomotive and crew productivity decreased and our interchange operations became less fluid.

Union Pacific continues to work hard to bring our operations back to normal levels. We have invested heavily in our franchise over the last decade, which includes adding substantial resources to grow with our customers and to recover from service interruptions like weather events. We continue to deploy all of our resources to bring our network back to normal:

  • Since last fall, we increased our locomotive fleet by 600 units, bringing our active fleet to more than 7,500.
  • We will continue to add locomotives to our fleet this year to assist with current recovery and ensure we are prepared for future demands.
  • We increased our active train, engine and yard (TE&Y) workforce by roughly 550 people since January.
  • We added management workforce both in the field and at our headquarters to manage our recovery.

With the additional resources we have added and the hard work and dedication of our employees, operations are improving and the network is becoming more fluid.

  • Union Pacific's average train speed is recovering and we expect to see continued improvement in the coming weeks.
  • Freight car inventory and interchange pipeline — both key metrics of network health — are showing improvement.
  • Our Chicago interchange operations have significantly improved, a critical step toward improved velocity and inventory.    

We anticipate steady improvement in the coming weeks as we return to normal operating levels throughout the impacted areas. Our recovery effort has been aided tremendously by the support and cooperation of our customers. Thank you for your business and for your support of Union Pacific.

If you have any questions please contact your Union Pacific representative.