Service improves on the UP

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 11/1/1998

Service on the Union Pacific Railroad continued to improve in early autumn. According to reports filed by the railroad with the Surface Transportation Board, the carrier has made good on promises to edge service forward.

The improvements come more than a year after the railroad began experiencing service problems that brought rail shipments in its network, especially in the Gulf Coast area, nearly to a standstill. Later, congestion built up in West Coast port areas as well. The service meltdown eventually led the STB to issue an emergency service order, which gave other carriers access to UP's customers and rail lines to help relieve the congestion. The board withdrew that order in July but required UP to continue filing biweekly service reports.

By the end of September, the railroad claimed it was showing a steady course of improvement in service and that it had achieved its highest level of performance in more than a year. Some of the numbers support that claim. For the week ending Oct. 2, for example, average system train speed reached 15.6 miles per hour, the highest level since August 1997. Although that's still slower than the railroad would like, it is an improvement from mid-July, when train speeds averaged 13.3 mph.

By the week ending Oct. 9, train speed and other service indicators had dropped slightly. The railroad said conditions created by Hurricane Georges and heavy rains in Texas and Oklahoma caused service to deteriorate somewhat.

Outside the stormy period, UP's efforts have resulted in improvements in several other categories. System car inventory continued to drop, reaching 332,181 in the week ending Oct. 2. That's the lowest level since Aug. 3, 1997. The railroad's management considers that to be within a normal range. The number of sidings blocked also continues to fall, dropping to 41 for the week ending Oct. 2, down from 111 in mid-July. The number of trains held for various reasons fell to 171 in the week ending Oct. 9. The railroad says it is particularly significant that the number held for lack of crews dropped to 37 by the beginning of October from a high of 132 in early August. In its letter to the STB, the railroad said that the improvement was a result of aggressive efforts to hire train personnel over the last year.

UP also says it no longer is suffering congestion in California and that intermodal shipments from Southern California are current, despite heavy import volumes.

Union Pacific Service Measures

Week Ending 7/31 8/7 8/14 8/21 8/28 9/4 9/11 9/18 9/25 10/2 10/9

On-line railcar inventory 341,574 340,020 337,610 336,965 338,194 338,194 339,979 338,704 334,276 332,181 332,804

System car terminal dwell

(hours) 37.9 38.6 38.0 39.0 39.1 38.6 41.0 38.1 36.0 35.5 35.9

System train speed

(mph) 13.3 13.8 14.1 14.8 15.0 15.0 15.1 15.5 15.5 15.6 15.2