The Union Pacific Railroad plans 20-Million dollars in improvements in some Iowa railroad lines. The U-P’s Mark Davis says they’ll move trains from their customary western Iowa tracks to others while they make planned improvements in the western-Iowa line. From now to about mid-July, Union Pacific will make improvement on the line from Denison to Council Bluffs that parallels Highway 30 and turns south from the town of Missouri Valley. Davis says the railroad’s developed an alternative route for the many trains that pass along that track every day. While they work on the track, the U-P will move its traffic to Canadian National Illinois Central, a railroad that parallels the Union Pacific track along Highway 30. Right now, the C-N-I-C line carries about one train a day. The project gets underway this week and Davis says trains will run on different tracks during the construction, though not far from their usual routes. Union Pacific’s shift will mean that line sees about 20 trains a day while work continues through mid-July. The project’s planned to cost 20-million dollars by the time it’s done Crews working in that area will replace and install about 72-thousand concrete railroad ties and 13-thousand-600 wood ties, spread 127-thousand tons of rock ballast and replace the surfaces of about 30 grade crossings. Union Pacific is North America’s largest railroad and has long-haul routes between west-coast ports and eastern gateways as well as routes to Mexico.
