Page 21 - August 2022 Track N Times

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT

The Union Pacific Railroad is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 7,600 locomotives over 32,200 miles
(51,800 km) of routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific employs 31,000
people and is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF. Union Pacific and BNSF Railway
have a duopoly (a situation in which two suppliers dominate the market for a commodity or service) on
transcontinental freight rail lines in the western United States.

Founded in 1862, the original Union Pacific Rail Road was part of the First Transcontinental Railroad pro-
ject, later known as the Overland Route. July 1, 1862 is when President Abraham Lincoln, a former rail-
road attorney and now President signed the Pacific Railway Act. The Central Pacific Railroad of California,
which had been chartered in 1861, was authorized to build a line east from Sacramento. At the same time,
the Act chartered The Union Pacific Railroad Company to build west from the Missouri River. May 10,
1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, East met West and the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific rails were
joined.

Over the next century, UP absorbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Chicago and North Western Trans-
portation Company, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and the Chicago,
Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. In 1996, the Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific Transportation
Company, itself a giant system that was absorbed by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, initially
maintaining the Southern Pacific name before the newly merged company reverted to the UP moniker. The
Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of the Union Pacific Corporation, both headquar-
tered in Omaha, Nebraska.

Additionally, the Union Pacific of late is the last United States based Class l railroad left in the country that
has not originated as a merger between separate road names or holding companies and, as such, is cur-
rently the oldest operating Class I railroad in the United States.

In 2012 they celebrated their 150 anniversary.
th
Sources: www.UP.com and Wikipedia.

Page 19 AUGUST 2022