Union Pacific Railroad Overview-2
The Union Pacific Railroad (reporting marks UP, UPP, UPY), legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles (51,800 km) routes in 23 states west of Chicago and New Orleans. The Union Pacific Railroad system is the second largest in the United States after BNSF and is one of the world's largest transportation companies. The Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of the Union Pacific Corporation, both headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The president of Union Pacific since 2015 is Lance Fritz.
Founded in 1862, the original Union Pacific Rail Road was part of the First Transcontinental Railroad project, later known as the Overland Route. The railroad was absorbed by the Union Pacific Railway in 1880, which was absorbed by the Union Pacific Railroad in 1897. Over the next century, UP absorbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.
In 1998, the Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific Transportation Company, itself a giant system that was absorbed by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad maintaining the Southern Pacific name.
Today, Union Pacific and its chief competitor, BNSF Railway, the nation's largest freight railroad by volume, have a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines in the western United States.
History
The original company, the Union Pacific Rail Road was incorporated on July 1, 1862, under an act of Congress entitled Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln, and it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union. It was constructed westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa to meet the Central Pacific Railroad line, which was constructed eastward from Sacramento, California. The combined Union Pacific-Central Pacific line became known as the First Transcontinental Railroad and later the Overland Route.
The line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha. The two lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah, 53 miles (85 km) west of Ogden on May 10, 1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America.
Subsequently, the UP purchased three Mormon-built roads: the Utah Central Railroad extending south from Ogden to Salt Lake City, the Utah Southern Railroad extending south from Salt Lake City into the Utah Valley, and the Utah Northern Railroad extending north from Ogden into Idaho.
The original UP was entangled in the Credit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872. As detailed by The Sun, Union Pacific's largest construction company, Credit Mobilier, had overcharged Union Pacific; these costs had then been passed on to the United States government. In order to convince the federal government to accept the increased costs, Credit Mobilier had bribed congressmen. Several prominent UP board members (including Durant) had been involved in the scheme. The ensuing financial crisis of 1873 led to a credit crunch, but not bankruptcy.
As boom followed bust, the Union Pacific continued to expand. The original company was purchased by a new company on January 24, 1880, with dominant stockholder Jay Gould. Gould already owned the Kansas Pacific (originally called the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, though in essence a separate railroad), and sought to merge it with UP. Thusly was the original "Union Pacific Rail Road" transformed into "Union Pacific Railway."
Extending towards the Pacific Northwest, Union Pacific built or purchased local lines that gave it access to Portland, Oregon. Towards Colorado, it built the Union Pacific, Denver and Gulf Railway: both narrow gauge trackage into the heart of the Rockies and a standard gauge line that ran south from Denver, across New Mexico, and into Texas.
The Union Pacific Railway would later declare bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. Again, a new Union Pacific "Railroad" was formed and Union Pacific "Railway" merged into the new corporation.
Union Pacific in the 20th century
In the early 20th century, Union Pacific's focus shifted from expansion to internal improvement. Recognizing that farmers in the Central and Salinas Valleys of California grew produce far in excess of local markets, Union Pacific worked with its rival Southern Pacific to develop a rail-based transport system that was not vulnerable to spoilage. These efforts came culminated in the 1906 founding of Pacific Fruit Express, soon to be the world's largest lessee of refrigerated railcars.
Meanwhile, Union Pacific worked to construct a faster, and more direct substitute for the original climb to Promontory Point. In 1904, the Lucin cutoff opened, reducing curvature and grades. The original route would eventually be stripped of track in 1942 to provide war scrap.
To attract customers during the Great Depression, Union Pacific's chairman W. Averell Harriman simultaneously sought to "spruce up" the quality of its rolling stock and to make its unique locations more desirable travel destinations. The first effort resulted in the purchase of the first streamlined train: the M-10000. The latter resulted in the Sun Valley ski resort in central Idaho; it opened in 1936 and finally was sold in 1964. Despite the fact that the M-10000 and its successors were among the first diesel locomotives, Union Pacific completed dieselization relatively late. In 1944, UP finally received delivery of its last steam locomotive: Union Pacific 844.
As the 20th century waned, Union Pacific recognized-like most railroads-that remaining a regional road could only lead to bankruptcy. At the close of December 31, 1925, UP and its subsidiaries had operated 9,834 miles (15,826 km) routes and 15,265 miles (24,567 km) tracks; in 1980, these numbers had remained roughly constant (9,266 route-miles and 15,647 track-miles). But in 1982, UP acquired the Missouri Pacific and Western Pacific railroads, and 1988, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas. By 1993, Union Pacific had doubled its system to 17,385 miles (27,978 km) routes.
By then, few large (class I) railroads remained. The same year that Union Pacific merged with the Chicago and North Western (1995), Burlington Northern and ATSF announced plans to merge. The impending BNSF amalgamation would leave one mega-railroad in control of the west. In order to compete, UP quickly merged with Southern Pacific, thereby incorporating D&RGW and Cotton Belt, and forming a duopoly in the West. The merged railroad took the Union Pacific name.
Facilities
The Union Pacific system includes hundreds of yards. Most are flat yards used for local switching. Other types of yards include intermodal terminals and hump yards. Intermodal terminals are typically ports, but UP also has terminals inland for trucks, such as the terminal in San Antonio that opened in 2009.
Ogden, Utah yard
Active yards
Union Pacific's active hump yards as of 2006 include:
Albina Yard in Portland, Oregon, present since 1881.
Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska
Beaumont Yard in Beaumont, Texas
Davidson Yard in Fort Worth, Texas
Davis Yard in Roseville, California
Roseville Rail Yard
Englewood Yard in Houston, Texas
Gateway Yard in East St Louis, Illinois, owned by subsidiary Alton and Southern Railway
Livonia Yard in Livonia, Louisiana
North Little Rock Yard in North Little Rock, Arkansas
Proviso Yard in Northlake, Illinois, owned by Chicago and North Western Transportation Company until 1995
Strang Yard in La Porte, Texas
West Colton Yard in Bloomington, California
In the late 2010's hump yards were being deactivated in favor of flat switching. "Hump yards are very complicated and expensive and work when you're bringing things in from lots of directions," ... "The more you do preblocking, the more you don't need the complexity-solving machine that is a hump yard." The Neff Yard Kansas City, Hinkle, Oregon, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas, facilities were closed in 2019.
Locomotives
Union Pacific has owned some of the most powerful locomotives. These include members of the Challenger-type (including the 3985), and the Northern-type (including the 844), as well as the Big Boy steam locomotives (including the 4014). Union Pacific ordered the first (diesel) streamliner, the largest fleet of turbine-electric locomotives in the world, and still owns the largest operational diesel locomotive (the 6936).
Named passenger trains once operated by Union Pacific include the following:
Butte Special (operated between Salt Lake City and Butte, Montana)
Challenger (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955, and thereafter the Milwaukee Road)
City of Denver (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955, and thereafter the Milwaukee Road)
City of Las Vegas; later, the Las Vegas Holiday Special (1956-1967)
City of Los Angeles (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955, and thereafter the Milwaukee Road)
City of Portland (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway until October 1955, and thereafter the Milwaukee Road)
City of Salina (1934-1940)
City of San Francisco (operated jointly with the Chicago and North Western Railway and the Southern Pacific Railroad; after October, 1955 the Milwaukee Road assumed operation of the Chicago-Omaha leg of the service)
City of St. Louis
Columbine (in service to Chicago and Denver, beginning in the 1920s)
Forty-Niner (operated between Chicago and Oakland)
Gold Coast (operated between Chicago and Oakland/Los Angeles)
Idahoan (operated between Cheyenne and Portland)
Los Angeles Limited (in service 1905)
Overland Flyer; renamed the Overland Limited in 1890 (1887-1963)
Pacific Limited (operated between Chicago and Ogden, Utah where it was split to serve Los Angeles and San Francisco, beginning in 1913. It was combined with the Portland Rose in 1947.)
Pony Express (operated between Kansas City and Los Angeles 1926-1954)
Portland Rose (in service between Chicago and Portland, beginning in the 1920s)
San Francisco Overland (originally operated between Chicago and Oakland, later terminated only at St. Louis)
Spokane (operated between Spokane and Portland)
Utahn (operated between Cheyenne and Los Angeles)
Yellowstone Special (operated between Pocatello, Idaho and West Yellowstone, Montana)
Hosted Amtrak trains
Many Amtrak routes use Union Pacific rails, including:
Amtrak Cascades
California Zephyr
Capitol Corridor
Coast Starlight
Lincoln Service
Missouri River Runner
Pacific Surfliner
San Joaquin
Sunset Limited
Texas Eagle

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern Railroad are the largest owner-partners of EMP, a domestic interline intermodal freight transport service that rents and moves more than 35,000 53-foot containers and chassis throughout North America. Other partners in the agent-owned company include Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Railway, I&M Rail Link, Iowa Interstate Railroad, Wisconsin Central Ltd., and Kansas City Southern Railway.
Includes subsidiaries Oregon Short Line Railroad, Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway, but not jointly-owned subsidiaries Spokane International Railroad or Mount Hood Railroad. Does not include LNP&W, S&EV, or P&IN. Does not include jointly-owned subsidiaries Spokane International Railroad or Mount Hood Railroad; entry for 1993 includes all subsidiaries. Includes subsidiaries Oregon Short Line Railroad, Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, and St. Joseph and Grand Island Railway.
Merger partner D&RGW elected not to join Amtrak and continued operating the Rio Grande Zephyr until 1983.