Union Pacific Railroad
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1. Company general info.
The road that helped win the West, Union Pacific Railroad is the primary subsidiary of Union Pacific. Union Pacific Railroad provides freight transportation services over some 32,000 miles of track in the western US. Freight hauled by the company includes agricultural, automotive, chemical, energy, and industrial products, along with intermodal containers. Union Pacific Railroad also offers logistics services, through its Union Pacific Distribution Services unit. The railroad was chartered by Congress in 1862 to build part of the first transcontinental rail line.
Union Pacific Railroad is an operating subsidiary of Union Pacific Corporation. It is the largest railroad in North America, operating in the western two-thirds of the United States. The railroad serves 23 states, linking every major West Coast and Gulf Coast port and provides service to the east through its four major gateways in Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans. Additionally, Union Pacific operates key north/south corridors and is the only railroad to serve all six major gateways to Mexico. UP also interchanges traffic with the Canadian rail systems.
The railroad has one of the most diversified commodity mixes in the industry, including chemicals, coal, food and food products, forest products, grain and grain products, intermodal, metals and minerals, and automobiles and parts.
Union Pacific's largest single customer is APL Limited, a steamship company that operates in the Pacific. Second is General Motors, followed by an assortment of chemical companies and utilities.
The railroad is the nation's largest hauler of chemicals, much of which originates along the Gulf Coast near Houston, Texas. Union Pacific is also one of the largest intermodal carriers – that is the transport of truck trailers and containers.
Having access to the coal-rich Powder River Basin in Wyoming and coal fields in Illinois, Colorado and Utah, the railroad moves more than 250 million tons of coal annually. It's one of Union Pacific's fastest-growing business areas. The company is investing millions of dollars annually to add capacity to handle coal traffic, including new locomotives, and new double and triple track main lines.
Although Union Pacific Railroad's primary role is transporting freight, it also runs a substantial commuter train operation in Chicago.
Financials and facts
Company Type Subsidiary of Union Pacific
Fiscal Year-End December
2005 Sales (mil.) $13,545.0
1-Year Sales Growth 11.2%
2005 Net Income (mil.) $1,036.0
1-Year Net Income Growth 67.9%
Key People
Chairman Richard K. (Dick) Davidson
President and CEO James R. (Jim) Young
EVP Finance and CFO Robert M. Knight Jr.
Business Groups
Agricultural Products
Automotive
Chemicals
Energy
Industrial Products
Intermodal
Mexico Markets
Short Line Railroads
2. In the news
Businessweek.com
Union Pacific Bring job to N.M.
OCT. 5 6:07 P.M. ET Union Pacific Corp. plans to bring at least 285 new jobs to southern New Mexico with the construction of a $150 million terminal facility near Santa Teresa, the state's two U.S. senators announced Thursday.
Democrat Jeff Bingaman and Republican Pete Domenici said the positions will include 205 engineers and 80 mechanical jobs.
They also said 260 other workers at an El Paso, Texas, terminal will move to the new facility at Strauss, near Santa Teresa. That would bring total jobs to 545.
3. Top Competitors
BNSF Railway: The primary subsidiary of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation, BNSF Railway Company (formerly Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company) provides freight transportation services over a network of 32,000 miles of track in the western United States and Canada. The BNSF system consists of about 24,000 company-owned route miles; trackage rights, which allow BNSF Railway to use tracks owned by other railroads, account for the remainder. Freight carried by BNSF Railway includes agricultural, consumer, and industrial products, along with coal.
CSX Transportation: CSX Transportation, the primary subsidiary of CSX, provides rail freight transportation overa network of about 22,000 route miles of track in 23 states in the eastern half of the US and two Canadian provinces. Freight carried by the railroad includes merchandise (chemicals, agricultural and food products, forest and industrial products, and phosphates and fertilizer), automotive products, and coal, coke, and iron ore.
Norfolk Southern: Transportation titan Norfolk Southern is one big train that could. The company operates Norfolk Southern Railway, a major freight railroad that covers some 21,000 route miles in 22 states in the eastern US and in Ontario, Canada. Norfolk Southern's network includes lines formerly operated by Conrail, which is jointly owned by Norfolk Southern and rival CSX. Norfolk Southern transports coal and general merchandise, including automotive products and chemicals. The company also offers intermodal services (freight transportation by a combination of train and truck) through subsidiaries Triple Crown Services and Thoroughbred Direct Intermodal Services.