UP to make Texas infrastructure improvements

(Source: Union Pacific press release, May 2, 2016)

SPRING, Texas — Union Pacific plans to invest $513 million in 2016 to improve Texas’s transportation infrastructure. The company’s multi-million dollar private investment will enhance employee, community and customer safety and increase rail operating efficiency. Freight railroads like Union Pacific operate on track built and maintained without taxpayer funds. Union Pacific’s private investments sustain jobs and ensure the company meets growing demand for products used in the American economy.

Union Pacific’s planned investment covers a range of initiatives: $429 million to maintain railroad track and $79 million to maintain bridges in the state. Key projects planned this year include:

• $21 million investment in the rail line between Pinehurst and Navasota to replace 42 miles of rail.

• $22 million investment in the rail line between San Antonio and Rockdale to replace 183,816 railroad ties and install 53,783 tons of rock ballast.

This year’s planned $513 million capital expenditure in Texas is part of an ongoing investment strategy. From 2011 to 2015, Union Pacific invested more than $3 billion strengthening Texas’s transportation infrastructure.

“We constantly evaluate our customers’ needs to make targeted investments that enhance our efficiency and deliver the goods American businesses and families use daily,” said Brenda Mainwaring, Union Pacific vice president – Public Affairs, Southern Region. “Continuing to aggressively invest in our infrastructure is an important element in Union Pacific’s unwavering safety commitment.”

Union Pacific plans to spend $3.75 billion across its network this year, following investments totaling approximately $33 billion from 2006-2015. These investments contributed to a 25 percent decrease in derailments over the last 10 years.

Wednesday, May 04, 2016