UP’s Rocker: ‘We Are Seeing Gains in Some Industries That We Serve’
According to Rocker, UP is seeing “inflationary pressures at both home and work.” He also made note of the new labor agreements having “significant impacts to costs.” “But we believe these new agreements provide a better quality of life for our craft professionals, which in turn, provides you with a more improved service product,” Rocker added.
Rocker provided the latest weekly metrics reported to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on Oct. 20. Compared with mid-April 2022 performance and based on the STB definitions for industry reporting, they include:
• Car Velocity: “Improved 19% to 211 miles per day.”
• First Mile, Last Mile: “Improved 3 points to 93%.”
• Trip Plan Compliance (TPC):
—TPC Bulk (unit train): “Improved 23 points to 89%.”
—TPC Manifest: “Improved 18 points to 77%.”
—TPC Intermodal: “Improved 16 points to 89%.”
Rocker also made note of the recently developed intermodal service from Mexico to the Southeast U.S. with Ferromex and UP’s Eastern interline partners. “We have a great franchise to leverage, coupled with strong relationships to provide you with more optionality to compete and win in the marketplace,” Rocker said.
“And speaking of growth, we continue to make record capital investments to increase capacity for our customers and harden the infrastructure across our 32,000-mile network,” Rocker reported. “This year we plan to spend $3.7 billion, the highest we’ve seen in seven years. So far this year we have replaced three million railroad ties and over 400 miles of rail to keep the network running smooth. We are investing a significant amount in freight cars and increasing capacity across our network, including enhancements at our intermodal terminals to not only add capacity, but also make it easier for customers to do business with us.”
Rocker also made mention of UP’s continuation to expand its reach through transloading, citing recently completed infrastructure enhancements at Loup Logistics’ Colton transload facility, managed by Mountain Reload. Loup has also expanded their partnerships with the following best-in-class transload operators: MHX LLC in Portland, Oregon and Tacoma, Washington; Jaguar Transport in Dallas, Texas; and Savage in Odessa, Texas, Rocker reported.
“We appreciate your business every day. The team is committed to working together with you to provide a safe, reliable service product to help you compete in the marketplace. This is reinforced with the company’s focus to move faster, be more productive and responsive to our customers,” Rocker summed up.
