Class I Briefs: UP, CSX
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
UP has capitalized on population boom along the Gulf Coast to meet growing construction needs. (UP Photograph)
Union Pacific (UP) reports having a “rocking good year” in 2023—literally. Also, CSX earns an Anthem Award for its “Pride in Service” community investment initiative.
UP
UP on Jan. 30 reported hauling record carloads of rock in 2023. Its 352,000 carloads edged out the previous record set in 2006 by a few hundred carloads and increased overall carloads by 23% compared with 2021 and 9% compared with 2022, according to the Class I.
Over the past few years, UP said it has made a concerted effort to capitalize on the construction boom in Texas and the Gulf Coast region, by finding new locations to “land” or place rock trains and identify new quarry sources to feed the landing spots.
“Union Pacific identified the anticipated growth in advance and positioned ourselves to capitalize on the residential and commercial increase in Texas to meet our customers’ needs,” UP General Director-Marketing and Sales Kevin Klein said.
The rock being hauled is used for a variety of construction purposes: pouring concrete foundations for new homes and businesses; building and maintaining roads and highways; and constructing new LNG facilities in the Gulf Coast. It comes as Texas experiences a population boom, with one of the highest growth rates in the nation behind South Carolina and Florida, according to UP.
A “good percentage” of the rock, UP said, originated and terminated in the southern part of its network, between San Antonio/Austin to Houston and in the Dallas area.
The rock trains currently haul 100 or more cars— the equivalent of taking 400 semi-trailer trucks off the road, according to UP.
CSX
For its “Pride in Service” community investment initiative, CSX has been selected as a silver winner in the third-annual Anthem Awards, which honor “the purpose and mission-driven work of people, companies, and organizations worldwide that inspire others to take action in their communities,” the Class I reported Jan. 31.
The awards program recognizes work across seven categories: Diversity Equity & Inclusion, Education Art & Culture, Health, Human & Civil Rights, Humanitarian Action & Services, Responsible Technology, and Sustainability Climate & Environment. Those categories are further broken down into five areas for both non-profit and for-profit companies: Awareness & Media, Fundraising, Community Engagement, Product, Innovation & Service, and Team & Leadership.
CSX was a winner in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion category, under Team & Leadership (For Profit), Special Workplace Initiative. The 2024 competition received more than 2,000 entries from 30-plus countries worldwide.
According to CSX, its “Pride in Service” initiative launched in 2018 and has benefitted more than 1 million members of the military and first responders and their families. Through corporate financial support and the donations and volunteer hours contributed by employees, CSX partners with five leading non-profit agencies—Blue Star Families, First Responders Children’s Foundation, Operation Gratitude, Operation Homefront and Wounded Warrior Project—to support the military community across all 50 states and in 40 countries.
The initiative has supported “the gifting of more than 3.7 million items of gratitude” and sponsored nearly 2,700 events, CSX reported. Additionally, 694 scholarships and nearly 20,000 grants have been distributed. CSX said the initiative has also funded “important research into the experiences and challenges of military families.”
“It’s a great honor to be selected for an Anthem Award, not only because it recognizes the positive impact Pride in Service is having in the military and first responder communities, but also because it’s a tribute to the hard work and thousands of hours our employees have contributed to Pride in Service events,” CSX President and CEO Joe Hinrichs said.
“The work that we have received in the 3rd Annual Anthem Awards is game-changing,” said Patricia McLoughlin, General Manager of the Anthem Awards, which were founded in 2021 by The Webby Awards. “The Anthem Community is a bright light in our uncertain world.”
