President John Kenefick's Great Contributions to UP
Mr Kenefick created a change in the methods of Planning and Design of major rail facilities on the Union Pacific.
In 1974, the Union Pacific was in the process of evaluating the possibility of building a new hump yard in Hinkle, Oregon, and he would consistently make periodic visits to the design office or set up a conference room to discuss how the process was going.
John C Kenefick – CEO – 1986
With the complex system of how the process was working, he decided to create a Terminal Planning and Design Group, where all of the people would work in one office where he had easy access, and they all would work for the Operating Department.
Terminal Planning and Design Group – Bob Pashek, Jim Conway, John Kenefick, Harry Meyen, Merrill Anderson, Gary Luenenborg.
This started with our office at UP and consisted of the following personnel: Harry Meyen – Operating; Merrill Anderson – Manager of Design and Construction Engineering; assisting the design and estimating - Jim Conway, Gary Luenenborg, Dave Clayton; and Bob Pashek – Clerical.
This group was responsible for the design and construction at many terminals over the Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific including the Hinkle Hump Yard; North Platte WB Hump Yard; Yermo, Calif., mini hump yard;
Port of Los Angles Container Facility; Oakland Calif., Container Facility; Portland Intermodal Facility; Kansas City Hump Yard and Flyover KCS RR; Chicago Intermodal Yard; Ft. Worth Hump Yard; Laredo Hump Yard; Little Rock Ark., Hump Yard; and many other yard projects.