Class I Briefs: UP, CSX

Gary Job Corps Center students with donated UP equipment in San Marcos, Tex.

Union Pacific (UP) donates equipment to the Gary Job Corps Center in San Marcos, Tex. Also, CSX contributes $100,000 to help combat antisemitism.

A summer visit to the San Marcos, Tex.-based Gary Job Corps Center by UP employees resulted in an equipment donation benefiting current students and future railroaders, the Class I announced Dec. 28.

After checking out the program, UP General Director-Mechanical Maintenance and Manager-Talent Acquisition Ken Kuwamura “came back to the railroad on a mission,” the railroad said.

“We found the center could use additional training aids, including a set of rail car trucks, to closely examine the individual components,” Hoogland said. “This will complement other training equipment they already have in place.”

Thanks to Mechanical’s Casey Dyer, Director-Freight Car Planning and Operations; Shawn Barrett, Manager-Mechanical Maintenance; and Mark Sellers, Manager-Mechanical Maintenance, a complete truck set was identified and delivered to the Center’s TCU/IAM Advanced Transportation Program, which offers vocational training for a variety of jobs in the transportation industry, including freight rail, earlier this month.

“This was fantastic work by the team,” Hoogland said. “We’re excited to support the community while also building the railroad’s talent pipeline.”

CSX announced Dec. 29 that it has joined other organizations and business leaders to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) by contributing $1,000 to the newly formed Together Strong Community Fund.

Backed by multiple large Jacksonville-based companies, the fund will use “education, conversation and interaction initiatives to address antisemitism and bring the community together.”

The Together Strong fund was created by the family that owns Jacksonville-based Brightway Insurance, a national property/casualty insurance distribution company, which launched the campaign against antisemitism with a $1 million matching contribution pledge. The fund was established following several recent hate-speech incidents in Jacksonville, including an antisemitic projection onto the outside of TIAA Bank Stadium after the University of Florida-University of Georgia football game in late October.

CSX CEO Joe Hinrichs joined other leaders on the TIAA field on Dec. 18 to acknowledge the new fund and the company’s support of the initiative.

“CSX’s contribution and support of the fund’s mission aligns with the company’s strong stance against hate speech, racism and discrimination,” said the Class I, which, in 2020, established a cross-functional social justice advisory roundtable and developed a Social Justice Action Plan to help the railroad combat racial injustice.