Q&A: Union Pacific's Katie Sanders talks technology and the next frontier in predictive railroading

In 2019, Progressive Railroading recognized Katie Sanders as one of the rail industry’s “Rising Stars.” At the time, she was an assistant vice president of IT operations and systems development at Union Pacific Railroad. Since then, her position has evolved and now she’s assistant vice president of operations technology at UP. 

Last month, Sanders penned a comment piece for UP’s “Inside Track” blog that addressed how technological advancements, including AI, are being used to create the “next frontier in proactive and predictive railroading” at the Class I, including in transportation planning. 

Earlier this week, RailPrime Senior Editor Julie Sneider caught up with Sanders to learn more about her current work involving predictive railroading at UP. The following interview was edited for length and clarity.  

RailPrime: Describe how your work at Union Pacific has evolved over the past six years. How has the focus of what you do — both day-to-day and in the big picture — changed? 

Sanders: I've continued to support the operations at Union Pacific really through that lens of technology. What's changed is the increasing capacity and scope. [Since 2019], I've had the opportunity to lead two significant technology transformations at Union Pacific, the first being with our dispatch system, and then the most recent being in our transportation management platform.

Currently, what my team and I are doing is supporting the great work of all things across the operating department. That includes dispatch, transportation management, network planning, our terminals and our train control technologies. We're really excited about the next generation of operating technologies, [which] we’re developing in close collaboration with the operators who are using those tools. 

RailPrime: Your “Inside Track” column talked about the next frontier in predictive, proactive railroading. Talk more about what that means. 

Sanders: We are exploring new technologies and ways that help our employees make quicker decisions. We're working toward this concept of connected data across all our operating platforms that help provide new insight, and some of those insights could be proactive, or even predictive. And we’re rethinking how we develop optimal and dynamic transportation plans.

Really, what we’re doing is [ensuring that] anything associated with our tech strategy is in support of our corporate strategy — safety, operational excellence, being responsible corporate partners by delivering on what we’ve sold to our customers, controlling costs by being smart with our assets — and doing that with highly engaged teams. We're leaning into technology across the board to support each of those strategic pillars. 

RailPrime: In your column you wrote about transportation planning, so let’s talk more about that. Explain what is involved in transportation planning and how technology is changing the process. 

Sanders: Transportation planning really is the nerve center for our operations. 
That's because it determines how we route cars or how we allocate resources to move those cars. It even helps determine and prescribe how we need to manage our terminals as those cars flow in and out of those terminals.

Any improvement that we’re able to make in the plan has a cascade of benefits across our operations and, ultimately, the service we offer our customers. 

You asked how transportation planning is done today. Today, it’s largely manual. It relies on expertise and collective experience. We are working on changing that by collaborating with those closest to that work, trying to capture and codify the wisdom associated with that expertise, and translating that into models that are capable of computing optimized plans quickly to [respond to the] changing business requirements all around us. 

RailPrime: How is artificial intelligence (AI) being used to streamline transportation planning and/or other operational uses? What is the goal for the use of AI in the future? 

Sanders: We're still in the early innings when it comes to AI, but we are energized by its initial use and potential benefits. When you think about AI, it's taken hold in our personal lives, right? So, it's no surprise that it's becoming quite a disruptor in our professional worlds, too.

The business landscape has really shifted on AI adoption from “if” to “how.” In transportation planning — really, at the railroad as a whole — we're doing things like making countless complex decisions that must consider huge amounts of data; AI can help with that. We do a lot of things that are manual tasks that can benefit from having a generative AI bot assist with [those tasks].  

There are many asset optimization opportunities that exist out there that could fuel efficiencies, so that’s another strong case for use of AI. The transportation plan falls into that [category] because it involves thinking about our network as a whole and making complex decisions. We have people who are good at doing that work today, and where AI can help is with providing quicker suggestions or help raise potential new opportunities that we haven't thought of before. 

RailPrime: When we interviewed you as a Rising Star in 2019, we asked how you and your work are making a difference in the rail industry. How would you answer that question today? 

Sanders: I feel very fortunate to be in the role that I'm in because technology really is a key catalyst. It's in the headlines everywhere. It could be AI, it could be any advancements that are coming with technology. But the fact is that companies and the rail industry are leaning into technology as we think about the art of the possible. It’s a wonderful place to be as we at Union Pacific embrace this very pragmatic approach to it, which is business-led and tech-enabled operations. We are positioned to be able to evolve in technology, and I see that continuing. 

RailPrime: Are there any other points that you’d like to make? 

Sanders: I’d like to emphasize how AI will interact with people moving forward. As a tool, AI is only as powerful as the people driving it. We [at UP] have experts today that are doing great work, and I see that continuing.  

Our approach has been to partner with the people doing that work to create tools that assist with decision-making and connecting the dots quickly with the data that ultimately helps us support safe, efficient operations and service.