Rail Car Cleaning Reminder
Announcement Number: CN2019-52
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: July 2, 2019
To Our Customers,
Recently we have experienced a significant increase in the number of Union Pacific owned or leased rail cars that have been rejected for loading. In our refrigerated boxcar fleet alone, we have seen the reject rate increase tenfold.
As a reminder, customers are responsible for completely unloading, cleaning, and properly closing and securing rail car doors and hatches prior to releasing Union Pacific owned or leased cars as empty. By removing all product, debris, spillage, residue, garbage or customer-owned dunnage from all compartments of Union Pacific cars, customers will increase car utilization for all of our customers, while minimizing cross-contamination of products. If Union Pacific cars are not fully emptied and cleaned upon release, the customer may be responsible for all cleaning and transportation charges to the nearest cleaning facility, as stated in UP 1000, section D.
We are asking all our customers for their assistance in supporting our efforts to improve rail car availability by returning a rail car in good condition, free of debris, so it can be delivered quickly to the next shipper for loading. We want to work with our customers to mitigate “dirty cars” and make sure they are following the recommended steps to clean each empty rail car prior to release. Starting September 1, 2019, we will charge $705 per “dirty car” under the terms of UP 1000, section D.
If you have any questions regarding the Union Pacific equipment policy or the recommended steps for cleaning empty cars, please contact your sales representative.