Union Pacific, BNSF open joint dispatching center (April 1998)
4/5/2023Union Pacific Railroad and Burlington Northern Santa Fe last month opened their much-ballyhooed joint regional dispatching center in Spring, Texas, for Gulf Coast train operations.
Designed to improve train operation coordination and foster communication among railroads that operate in the Houston area, the center opened March 15. It controls train operations between Houston and New Orleans over more than 340 track miles that will be jointly owned by UP and BNSF. The center also controls mainline trackage once operated by Houston Belt & Terminal Railroad and a portion of Port Terminal Railroad Association.
W.T. Slinkard, a former Southern Pacific train management officer, was named neutral joint director and is supervising the center.
Also, a consolidated dispatching center will be established at Spring, where UP and BNSF dispatchers will control their respective lines along the entire Gulf Coast region. Provisions also have been made for Texas Mexican Railway dispatchers to operate out of the consolidated center by the end of April.
UP and BNSF announced Feb. 13 that they would establish the joint facility and exchange half interests in two pieces of former SP line.
Source: The April 1998 issue of Progressive Railroading