Union Pacific is busy laying new track through our area, they are adding a high speed track parallel to the old and refurbishing the old track and replacing bridges. I am happy to see the improvements and the increase in rail traffic. I think if the railroad can take up the slack we can get some of the trucks off the freeway, or at least not add more. I have nothing against trucks, but when there are a lot of them it gets scary on the road with them.
Amen to that.
If you ever looked up the stats on the damage heavy trucks cause on the highways, you would be appalled.
My Dad drove semis and my brother does but I'm not a fan. We've been run off of the highway twice and I hate I-80 in Pa.
I'm all for trains as Hubby is a fan. Loved Steamtown in Scranton too. Semis will mow you down. Train engineers wave. ;)
What's your general area that UP is woking track? We have projects going on in a lot of places right now.
A little Union Pacific info....
Route Miles - 32,400
Employees - 50,000 (and HIRING)
Payroll - $3.6 Billion
Purchases - $3.9 Billion
Locomotives - 8,000 (new $$$ 2.5 million each)
Freight cars - 107,000
Increased volumes with out increased capacity results in slower transit times. Shippers want "overnight" door to door service but sometimes you just don't get what you want. More main line tracks - more capacity in the major yards, employees with a good work ethic (good 1/3 of the train and engine svc employees "took" the holiday "off").. no employee - no trains move. At 400am this morning we have over 200 trains laid down, over 50 were waiting for a crew to mark up or get rested to run.. They are coming back now but slowly..