UP starts returning its rail cars to service

Union Pacific Railroad is beginning to "strategically and gradually" return some of its rail cars to the network, as the Class I continues to work on improving freight-rail service, a UP executive informed customers late last week.

In a July 15 letter, UP Executive Vice President Kenny Rocker reported that, minus an expected slowdown over the July 4th weekend, UP’s metrics continued to improve this month compared with performance in April.

"We are in the beginning phases of strategically and gradually returning some Union Pacific-owned cars into the network," the letter stated, which is posted on UP's website. "We will continue to work with each of you to balance the need to bring additional cars online as we increase car velocity and reduce cycle times."

Rocker wrote to customers in April to announce UP would remove 2% to 3% of its own rail cars and would begin metering traffic if customers didn’t voluntarily reduce their inventory. The railroad also announced it has added dozens of locomotives since January to help move cars along.

Rocker's letters to customers are part of a broader effort by the nation's largest freight railroads to improve their service to customers. After being inundated with shipper complaints about freight-rail service, the Surface Transportation Board ordered UP and some other Class Is to correct their service problems and regularly report their progress to the board.

In his July 15 letter, Rocker also reported that UP's hiring efforts are "in full swing" to add train crew members to help step up service levels.

"Year to date, approximately 400 [new hires] have graduated, and approximately 500 more are in training,” Rocker wrote. "In July, we expect to hire enough crew members to offset turnover and then some, and in the third quarter, we expect to see a significant number of graduates."