As Rail Safety Week (RSW) (Sept. 19-25), a collaborative effort among Operation Lifesaver, Inc. (OLI), state OLI programs and rail safety partners across the U.S., Canada and Mexico, continues to be observed, North American carriers and organizations are mobilizing to raise awareness about rail safety and to help stop track tragedies during this annual week-long event. Here is a roundup of the week’s initiatives.
The six Class I freight railroads participating in national bargaining will begin taking steps as early as Sept. 12 to manage and secure shipments of hazardous and security-sensitive materials “in light of the possibility of a rail labor strike,” the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said the evening of Sept. 9. The SMART-Transportation Division (TD) and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen spoke out on embargoes* on Sept. 11.
Union Pacific has issued $600 million of green bonds to “fund investments aimed at decarbonizing the company’s footprint and achieving set emissions reduction targets,” the Class I reported Sept. 12.
Master’s Degree students in the University of Denver’s (DU) Transportation and Supply Chain Institute toured short line railroad Pacific Harbor Line (PHL) for an entire week in July to “experience the transportation industry at one of its critical nerve centers.”
Belgium-based chemical company Solvay announced Aug. 26 that, with Union Pacific (UP), it has invested in a purpose-built railcar fleet to reduce the carbon footprint of every railcar of soda ash (or sodium carbonate), “the 10th most consumed inorganic compound in the world and a base ingredient for lass and detergent manufacturers,” shipped from the company’s Green River, Wyo., plant.
CN has joined Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Net-Zero Challenge. Also, Union Pacific (UP) and representatives from the city of Houston, Harris County and Bayou City Initiative in Texas have begun rail yard remediation discussions.
The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced on Aug. 29 that it has committed $3.04 million to the City of Newton for a rail extension in the 225-acre-plus Kansas Logistics Park, an
Benita Gibson didn’t set out to join the rail industry, but after 15 years at Union Pacific Railroad and 30 years in management across three different industries, she serves as Union Pacific’s general superintendent for commuter operations in Chicago—and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
When Tara Hogan was growing up in Texas, she wanted to be a basketball coach—a career in freight rail wasn’t on her radar. But after high school and six years of service in the U.S. Air Force, she finished her college degree, took on a few different jobs and went looking for her next gig.
Union Pacific’s (UP) Big Boy No. 4014 locomotive may be forever tied to Earth, but one astronaut believes the famed steam engine shares a lot in common with mankind’s drive to explore the heavens.
