Union Pacific (UP) is boosting business with service to Agri Beef’s grain milling facility in Nyssa, Ore., and to Frontier Carbon Solutions’s (Frontier) Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub (SCS Hub) in southwestern Wyoming.
UP’s three-year collaboration with Agri Beef is coming to fruition with the opening of the family-owned “ranch-to-table” beef company’s grain milling facility, the Class I reported Dec. 11 in the Inside Track section of its website. It will provide specialized unit train service to the mill, which will produce corn and wheat flakes for Agri Beef’s cattle feedlots across Idaho and Oregon.
The Oregon facility leverages a reactivated two-mile industrial lead track leased from UP. The railroad and Agri Beef partnered to customize the track, installing a wye and reconfigured track segments for efficient unit train unloading.
“Agri Beef’s decision to build their own facility and work directly with UP underscores the strength of our rail network,” said Laura Heisterkamp, Assistant Vice President-Bulk, Marketing and Sales at UP. “We are well-positioned and thrilled to support the cattle market growth in this area.”
According to UP, its cross-functional teams, including the Pacific Northwest Service Unit, Harriman Dispatching Center, Network and Industrial Development, Engineering Design, Real Estate, and Finance, worked closely with Agri Beef to ensure the project’s success.
“We are excited about the growth our new facility will bring, and UP’s innovative rail solutions will help us maximize this potential,” added Tim Brady, Director of Risk Management for Agri Beef. “We are looking forward to a long and successful partnership.”
Meanwhile, UP will also serve Frontier’s SCS Hub. Frontier, a Tailwater Capital portfolio company, on Dec. 11 announced an offering of “forward offtake agreements” for the hub, which it said is “designed to significantly reduce industrial carbon emissions across the U.S. Midwest and Mountain West by securely transporting and permanently storing more than 400,000 metric tons (MT) of captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) annually.”
The company has begun pre-drilling work and said it is set to complete its first Class VI well by second-quarter 2025. “Utilizing UP’s established rail infrastructure, the SCS Hub will transport liquefied CO₂ emissions in insulated railcars to Wyoming for permanent geological sequestration,” Frontier said. “This approach not only leverages existing transportation assets but also creates high-quality, engineered carbon removal credits (CDRs) for the voluntary carbon market (VCM).”
Frontier is registering the SCS Hub in the VCM, which it said will ensure the project “meets rigorous standards for verification and marketability.”
“By combining existing rail infrastructure with advanced carbon capture and sequestration technology, the SCS Hub offers a scalable and timely solution to support industrial decarbonization,” said Steven Lowenthal, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Frontier. “This project demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative, high-impact solutions that address critical emissions challenges while creating long-term value for our partners.”
“Rail is the most environmentally responsible way to move freight by land, reducing greenhouse gas emissions up to 75% compared to truck,” noted UP President Beth Whited. “By leveraging UP’s Carbon by Rail program with partners like Frontier, customers have an effective strategy to make a significant environmental impact that didn’t exist in the past.”
