Union Pacific Gridlock Easing But Rail Regulators Extend Emergency Order Five Months

Responding to persistent Union Pacific railroad gridlock in Texas and other parts of the nation, federal rail overseers extended by almost five months an emergency service order designed to lessen congestion and improve service to disgruntled shippers.

As the Surface Transportation Board extended to Aug. 2 an emergency order due to expire in mid-March, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a final report indicating that Union Pacific is making progress in remedying safety deficiencies.

The administration initiated a top-to-bottom review last year after the nation’s largest railroad experienced a rash of derailments and collisions that killed seven Union Pacific Corp. employees.

“Union Pacific has made a strong commitment to safety since the tragic incidents last summer, and getting there will be a marathon, not a sprint,” Jolene Molitoris, chief of the Federal Railroad Administration, said Wednesday. “The FRA is working closely with the Union Pacific railroad to achieve an acceptable level of safety.”

But the Surface Transportation Board found nagging congestion problems that remain unsolved.

Shippers from the ports of California to the grain silos of the Midwest and petrochemical plants along the Gulf Coast have been harmed by the rail gridlock, which began with problems in the congestion-plagued Houston area, then quickly rippled throughout UP’s 36,000-mile network.

Union Pacific asked the Surface Transportation Board to extend the emergency order it imposed in October.

The order directs the railroad to grant trackage rights and customer access in Texas to the Texas Mexican Railway and to work with Tex Mex and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe to facilitate operations in the Houston area.