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Rail News Home Union Pacific Railroad 6/5/2020 Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad
Lance FritzPhoto – up.com

Union Pacific Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Lance Fritz earlier this week posted on the railroad's website a statement about the recent racial injustice events that spurred protests throughout the nation over the past week.

Fritz began by noting that UP employees formed the Black Employee Network 40 years ago to help company leadership understand and respond to the company's African American employees.

Rail News Home Union Pacific Railroad 5/22/2020 Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad earlier this week laid off an unspecified number of workers in the mechanical department at Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska. The layoff was related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the North Platte Telegraph reported. Raquel Espinoza, UP's senior director of corporate communications and media relations, confirmed the workforce reduction in an email. She declined to indicate how many people were affected.  "Union Pacific is experiencing volume declines as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the country," she said in a statement to the Telegraph. "We are operating fewer locomotives and rail cars, requiring us to reduce our workforce in the mechanical department." Bailey Yard lost about 250 jobs last year, based on local estimates, as the Class I implemented its Unified Plan 2020 operating model throughout its network, the newspaper reported. For the week ending May 16, UP handled 67,603 carloads, down from 92,535 during the same week in 2019, according to Association of American Railroads data.  

Rail News Home Union Pacific Railroad 5/12/2020 Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad
Cold Connect is a Loup Logistics service that moves refrigerated products from the West Coast to UP's warehouse in Rotterdam, New York.Photo – upcoldconnect.com

Customers were notified late last week that Union Pacific Railroad is ceasing operations of Cold Connect, a Loup Logistics service that moves refrigerated products from the West Coast to UP's warehouse in Rotterdam, New York.

On May 8, employees were informed that the service would permanently close and most Cold Connect-related positions have been eliminated, said UP spokesman Tim McMahan in an email.

Rail News Home Union Pacific Railroad 4/30/2020 Rail News: Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Corp. announced yesterday it will conduct its 2020 annual shareholders meeting on May 14 only through live audio. The decision to cancel an in-person event was made to protect the health of shareholders, employees and other stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic, UP officials said in a press release. All UP shareholders as of the close of business on March 20 are invited to attend the meeting, they said.

Union Pacific Railroad today posted first-quarter net income of $1.5 billion, or $2.15 per diluted share, compared to $1.4 billion, or $1.93 per diluted share, a year ago. 

Operating revenue during the quarter declined 3 percent to $5.2 billion compared with the same quarter last year. Business volumes as measured by total revenue carloads fell 7 percent during the period versus a year ago, UP officials said in a press release.