Beginning Sept. 3, Union Pacific is expanding its Z train network with a new domestic intermodal service connecting its Inland Empire Intermodal Terminal (IEIT) in Southern California directly with its Global 2 Intermodal Terminal in Chicago.
“Customers will experience up to 20% faster intermodal service compared to current industry offerings between these key locations, with three days’ transit, providing the fastest delivery of time-sensitive freight, significantly boosting intermodal capacity,” UP said. The service will start at five days a week “with the ability to increase with growth, enhancing the seamless connection from the Los Angeles Basin’s most active warehouse district through our IEIT.”
“As we continue expanding IEIT, this service will deliver consistent, reliable and truck-competitive transportation, challenging the norms of over-the-road shipping and competing head-to-head with team driver truck services,” said Union Pacific Executive Vice President Marketing and Sales Kenny Rocker.
Union Pacific’s Z network consists of the railroad’s highest-priority expedited intermodal trains, which primarily handle domestic intermodal traffic, connecting markets like the Los Angeles Basin, Chicago and Kansas City. Construction recently concluded on UP’s new Kansas City Intermodal Terminal. Opened July 16, the facility serves domestic and international containerized shipments of grains, consumer goods, refrigerated products, and auto parts in the Midwest region, and adds capacity to the railroad’s original Kansas City operation. UP held a ribbon-cutting celebration Aug. 7.
