Union Pacific Corporation

Union Pacific Corporation is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1862, Union Pacific Corporation is one of the leading railway transport companies in North America. It operates in 23 states, connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Mississippi River, and is North America's largest railroad. The company has a network of more than 32,000 route miles, covering 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States.

Union Pacific Corporation provides rail transportation services, including transportation of industrial and consumer goods, agricultural products, and automotive products. It also provides intermodal and railroad-related services, including providing storage and other related services. The company’s operations are divided into three main segments: freight, premium, and business services.

Union Pacific Corporation is the largest freight railroad in North America and is also the largest employer in the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It employs more than 35,000 people and is one of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States. The Union Pacific Railroad, legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles of routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans.

The company has a strong focus on safety and is committed to providing safe and reliable service to its customers. In addition, it is a leader in environmental protection, investing in technology and practices that reduce its environmental impact.

On July 1, 1862, Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act, authorizing land grants and government bonds, which amounted to $32,000 per mile of track laid, to two companies, the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad.

Construction on the Transcontinental Railroad began on January 8, 1863, in Sacramento, when workers for the Central Pacific Railroad first broke ground for the track. In October of that same year, Judah sailed for New York to attempt to find investors who would buy out his Sacramento partners. In 1864, he was hired by T.C. Durant as locating engineer of the UPRR. Reed spent six months surveying between Green River, Wyoming, and the Salt Lake Valley, recommending the route over which the railroad was finally built.

Corporate headquarters are in Omaha, where Union Pacific laid its first rails in 1865. After struggling with retaining workers due to the difficulty of labour, Charles Crocker (who was in charge of construction for the Central Pacific) began hiring Chinese labourers. Oakes and Oliver Ames (of the Oliver Ames & Sons pick and shovel business, which amassed a large fortune during the gold rush), undertook the financing of the construction of the Union Pacific, coming to the assistance of Doctor Durant during a crucial money crunch in 1865.

After General Grenville Dodge, a hero of the Union Army took control as chief engineer, the Union Pacific finally began to move westward in May 1866. Although the Central Pacific had a two-year head start over the Union Pacific, the rough terrain of the Sierra Nevada’s limited their construction to only 100 miles by the end of 1867. George Pullman, together with Andrew Carnegie, approached T.C. Durant also this year with the idea of sleeper cars. By early 1869, the companies were working only miles from each other, and in March the newly inaugurated President Ulysses S. Grant announced he would withhold federal funds until the two railroad companies agreed on a meeting point. In this period, the UP sold off some of its holdings; the Union Pacific Railway, Central Branch became the Central Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and the Southern Branch was acquired by the newly incorporated Missouri Kansas Texas Railroad in 1870. The original UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872. Later, the original UP was in financial trouble because of the financial crisis of 1873 but did not go into bankruptcy. 

Map of the transcontinental route of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad and its connections, circa 1883. The original golden spike is now part of the collection of Stanford University, which was founded by Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, in 1885 in memory of their only son.

The Union Pacific Railway declared bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. In 1897 a new "Union Pacific Railroad" (pronounced "Railroad") was formed and the Union Pacific Railway was merged into the new Union Pacific Railroad. Harriman used the railroad as a holding company for the securities of other transportation companies in his empire. It was reorganized in 1897 under the leadership of Edward H. Harriman, who was responsible for major improvements and standardization and who led the railroad to participate in the economic development of the West.

The Reliance mine was opened in March 1910 by the predecessor company Union Pacific Coal Company. He was an advocate for greater cooperation among the railroads for their mutual benefit and he had an active role in 1934, in the formation of the Association of American Railroads. UP founded the Sun Valley resort in Idaho in 1936; the UP engineering department in Omaha designed the first ski chairlift that summer. 

In 1942 the rails were taken up for war scrap and the golden spike drawn from where it had been driven 73 years before; the old railroad bed remains. In 1948 Tests Begin on 1st Gas Turbine-Electric. In 1958 control of Spokane International was acquired and the UP has 99.94 percent of the stock. And on July 6, 1963, Chicago & North Western Railway applied to the ICC for its own merger with CRI&P. By early 1965, the ICC began its hearings. The New York Times article specifically covered the new team that would lead Union Pacific in late 1966, which included Frank Barnett as chairman of the executive committee, R. M. Sutton as vice president of finance, and Ed Bailey as president of the railroad.

Union Pacific Corporation was created on January 30, 1969, to manage Union Pacific Railroad and its non-railroads interests.  Completed in 1973, the towers stood at 110 stories each, accommodating 50,000 workers and 200,000 daily visitors in 10 million square feet of space. On November 8, 1974, The federal ICC approved the UP-CRI&P merger. Union Pacific Corporation combined its coal mining subsidiary, Rocky Mountain Energy, and its trona, uranium and other minerals mining subsidiary, Union Pacific Mining, into a single company that retained the Rocky Mountain Energy Company name. 

On March 17, 1975, CRI&P declared bankruptcy. August 4, 1975, UP withdrew its application to merge CRI&P due to the financial condition of the company and conditions imposed by the ICC to satisfy the objections of D&RGW and SP. On July 10, 1976, The ICC dismissed the proposed UP-CRI&P merger after UP withdrew its application.

On January 8, 1980, UP announced its intended merger with Missouri Pacific Railroad and Western Pacific Railway. Union Pacific acquired control of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and Western Pacific Railway on December 22, 1982. UP-MP-WP control and merger were approved by courts, following a suit by SP to block the merger. The Union Pacific merged with two other railroads, the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company (headquartered in St Louis, Missouri) and the Western Pacific Railroad Company (headquartered in San Francisco), to form what came to be called the Union Pacific System. On May 31, 1984, Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific announced that all of the locomotives owned by Missouri Pacific would be repainted into UP's yellow and grey scheme, using Missouri Pacific lettering.

In October 1986 Union Pacific purchased control of Overnite Transportation Company. November 14, 1986, UP and MKT filed with the ICC their intention to merge. Son of E.H. Harriman, chief United States contact with the Soviet Union during World War II, and diplomat and advisor to every Democratic president of the 20th Century except Woodrow Wilson, until Harriman's death that year.

The Union Pacific Corporation consolidated two subsidiaries, Champlin Petroleum and the Rocky Mountain Energy Company, into a single group within Union Pacific called the Union Pacific Resources Group. In December 1987 OSL, OWR&N, and LA&SL were formally merged with 

Union Pacific. On May 16, 1988, UP's control of MKT was approved by ICC. Union Pacific offered $3.4 billion, compared to BN's $2.5 billion. The offer was reported as $5.4 billion. On September 26, 1995, UP, SP, and BNSF sign a trackage rights agreement that, following the completion of the merger of UP and SP, would give BNSF access to shippers in Provo, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah. In October 1995, Union Pacific sold a 17 percent stake to the public in an IPO. On November 30, 1995 UP filed with the ICC its application to merge and control the Southern Pacific In 1995, Union Pacific Corporation organized all of its natural resource operations (Champlin Petroleum and Rocky Mountain Energy) into the Union Pacific Resources Group, Inc.

In 1996 The vote was by 85 percent (or 132.5 million shares) of SP's outstanding shares. Union Pacific and Southern Pacific employees, under the guidance of their supervisors, may begin implementing integration plans." September 11, 1996, Union Pacific Corporation was granted control of Southern Pacific Rail Corporation (formerly Rio Grande Industries) on September 11, 1996, with an effective date of October 1, 1996. In September as well, the Union Pacific Merger Company was merged into the Union Pacific Corporation. The Union Pacific Corporation acquired the remaining 75 percent of SP common shares not previously owned by the Union Pacific Corporation.

In June 30, 1997, D&RGW was formally merged with Union Pacific Railroad. (Railroad Retirement Employer Status Determination) Western Pacific became a subsidiary of Union Pacific at this time, while Union Pacific and Missouri Pacific retained their separate corporate identities until the merger was completed in 1997.

The third Union Pacific Railroad lasted until 1998 when it was replaced by the fourth incarnation, formerly the Southern Pacific Transportation Company, the last incarnation of the Southern Pacific railroad. Finally, in April 1999, the Union Pacific Corporation announced plans to move its headquarters to Omaha.

In April 2000, Union Pacific Resources Group was purchased by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. In April 2001, the city of Omaha agreed to handle the acquisition of a new site and to purchase the old building at 1416 Dodge Street. And on May 16, 2005, Overnite was sold to UPS. 

The Southern Pacific Rail Corporation remained a subsidiary of the Union Pacific Corporation until 2015 when it was merged into the former Southern Pacific Transportation Company, the current Union Pacific Railroad.

In recent years, UPC has seen strong growth. Revenue for 2020 was $23.1 billion, an increase of 4.8% from 2019. Operating income was up 5.6%, and net income was up 5.3%. UPC also saw strong earnings per share (EPS) growth, up 8.2% year-over-year to $10.93. UPC has also seen strong growth in its freight business. Its freight volumes have grown by 8.7% year-over-year, driven by growth in industrial, automotive and agricultural products. This has helped the company achieve strong returns on invested capital, with an average of 11.2% over the last five years.
 

According to the company, their mission is as follows: “the men and women of Union Pacific are dedicated to serve.”

“We work together, embrace diversity and create opportunity for all. We promote an inclusive environment where people from varied backgrounds can be their best, reflect the communities where we live and work, and deliver a competitive advantage.”

The vision of Union Pacific is to: “Build America for all generations by connecting our nation's businesses and communities to each other and the world.”

“Passion, determination and expertise drive our safety, customer experience and financial results. Our reputation will always be a source of pride for our employees and a bond with our customers, shareholders and communities.”

Products the Union Pacific Corporation ship:

• Construction
• Consumer and Appliances
• Hazardous Waste
• Lumber and Panel
• Machinery and Dimensional
• Metals and Ores
• Military Shipments
• Paper
• Petroleum Products
• Plastics
• Private Locomotives
• Sand & Drilling-Related Products
• Waste