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Yesterday, Union Pacific Corp. announced its board approved a plan to add $100 million to the capital spending budget for 2011, increasing capex to $3.3 billion. The increase is supported by profitability, cash generation and growing financial returns, UP officials said in a prepared statement.

“Looking ahead, we feel positive about the long-term fundamentals of our business,” said UP Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Young. “We are investing for safety, service, growth and productivity gains that will help us improve the value we provide to our customers and shareholders.”

Meanwhile, UP also announced it won the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s Environmental Excellence Award for developing environmentally friendly locomotives. The award recognizes the railroad’s efforts to employ GenSet switchers, which can reduce emissions of particulate matter and oxides of nitrogen by 80 percent to 90 percent compared with older conventional switching locomotives, and cut fuel usage about 37 percent.

UP pioneered the GenSet locomotive and operates 98 of the switchers in Texas yards. The Class I’s entire fleet of 165 GenSets represents about half of all GenSets operating worldwide, according to UP.