Union Pacific Railroad
System map (trackage rights in purple) | |
UP #2723, a GE ET44AC, leading an intermodal train eastbound near inland California. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Union Pacific Corporation |
| Headquarters | Union Pacific Center, Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
| Key people |
|
| Founder | United States Congress |
| CEO | Jim Vena |
| Reporting mark |
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| Locale | Western, Midwestern and Southern United States |
| Dates of operation | 1862–present
|
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 32,100 miles (51,700 km) |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
The Union Pacific Railroad Company (reporting marks UP, UPP, UPY) is an American Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over 32,200 miles (51,800 km) routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second-largest railroad in the United States after BNSF.
Founded in 1862, the original Union Pacific Rail Road was part of the first transcontinental railroad project, later known as the Overland Route. Over the next century, UP absorbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. In 1995, the Union Pacific merged with Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, completing its reach into the Upper Midwest. In 1996, the company merged with Southern Pacific Transportation Company, itself a giant system that was absorbed by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad.
The Union Pacific Railroad Company is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation, which are both headquartered at the Union Pacific Center, in Omaha, Nebraska.
Union Pacific has announced plans to acquire the Norfolk Southern Railway in a deal worth $85 billion. If approved by regulators, it would create the first transcontinental railroad network in the United States.