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Union Pacific Railroad is creating its own truck chassis co-op to improve equipment availability. The Class I recently signed an agreement with the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association (OCEMA) to launch the rail industry’s first inland cooperative truck chassis pool in the United States, according to UP.

The co-op will comprise16 international customers that agreed to pool their truck chassis. A pool manager will be responsible for inspection, maintenance, repairs, interchange and inventory control. The co-op will help reduce the truck chassis inventory at intermodal facilities and in customers’ pools; require less manpower to manage the chassis fleet; and speed train arrivals and container unloading operations, UP said.

In December, the Class I created a truck chassis pool at its Denver intermodal terminal. The railroad plans to expand the co-op to 11 other facilities — including those in Salt Lake City and Marion, Ark. — within the next two years to pool about 70,000 truck chassis.

“This co-operative effort is a creative way of handling business that benefits customers, truckers and railroads,” said Barry Michaels, UP assistant vice president of premium operations, in a prepared statement.