UP, officials “break ground” on Joliet, Ill., IM facility

Union Pacific's new Joliet, Ill., Intermodal Terminal will support customer growth by increasing the railroad's international and domestic container capacity and improving rail traffic efficiencies in Chicago, the nation's largest rail center. Once on line, customers from across Union Pacific's network will benefit from Joliet's annual capacity of 500,000 ocean-going containers. Officials and customers gathered Sept. 3 to celebrate the construction commencement of Union Pacific's nearly $370 million, 785-acre Joliet Intermodal Terminal and CenterPoint Intermodal Center - Joliet, a 3,900-acre state-of-the-art integrated logistics center.

Construction began in August 2009 and the initial phase is
scheduled for completion in June 2010. The new facility, located about five
miles south of I-80 and seven miles east of I-55, has additional space for
future expansion based on customer demand.

The Joliet Intermodal Terminal features include:

• Four 8,000-foot tracks with capacity to handle the
loading or unloading of 107 intermodal "double-stack" rail cars.

• Six 8,000-foot tracks to give train crews the ability to
sort rail cars by destination.

• An additional six tracks to stage rail cars prior to
unloading or loading.

• Four
cranes that straddle the rail cars and two rubber-tired mobile "packers" that
lift trailers and containers on and off rail cars. The cranes are equipped with
Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, increasing loading and unloading efficiencies.

• More than 3,400 "staging" or parking places for trailers
and containers.

• An advanced Yard System that coordinates all movement of
rail cars, trucks, trailers and containers at the facility.

• AGS Gate technology that decreases truck processing time
from five minutes to between 30 to 90 seconds.

• A state-of-the-art security system.

CIC – Joliet is a $2-billion private investment, 100
percent developed with union labor, which is expected to generate as many as
15,000 new jobs and millions in new tax revenue for local governments over the
next 10-15 years. CenterPoint will be investing more than $200 million in new
infrastructure, including roads, bridges and utilities. Of the 3,900 total
acres, 975 acres are zoned for rail and intermodal terminal development; 1,900
acres are available for up to 20 million square feet of industrial facilities
(warehouse, distribution, manufacturing, cross-dock, and transloading); and 400
acres can accommodate container/trailer and equipment management facilities.
The remaining 625 acres have been reserved for stormwater and conservation.

Union
Pacific invested nearly $240 million for capital projects in Illinois in 2008.
During 2009, Union Pacific plans to invest $1.7 billion in strengthening the
track infrastructure across its more than 32,000-mile system.