The nation’s largest railroad has record revenues in the quarterly report just released today (Thursday) by Union Pacific. U-P spokesman Mark Davis says operating revenues totaled three-point-three-billion dollars in the second fiscal quarter of 2005. Earnings were up 47-percent in the second quarter, he says, and they continue to see strong demand for the railroad’s services, with Iowa and Nebraska shipping lots of ag products and coal. Davis says efficiency gets credit for much of the improvement in earnings. But after a few years of hastily cutting staff to downsize as the recession cut business, the railroad faced a rebounding economy and had to turn away business. Davis says that’s changing as UP’s employee force is rebuilt. He says with more resources they’re hiring more people, and after a year and-a-half of engineer training the new engineers are now coming out ready to go to work. He says the railroad’s also buying new equipment. They’re newer, high-power locomotives, he notes, and after two years of aggressively buying and leasing trains the fleet is younger. They’er also looking at how cars are moved from one point to another. “We’re calling it our ‘unified plan,’ because it does involve all aspects of the railroad.” Davis says the railroad’s also analyzed travel and the movements of the trains, to make up new and improved schedules.
