UP opens Donner Pass Tunnel to double-stack traffic

Written by jrood

Union Pacific opened its Donner Pass route to domestic double-stack intermodal container freight traffic Nov. 19, marking the completion of a 12-month project designed to move customer products over a shorter, faster and more efficient route.

"The Donner Tunnel project
is a great example of how Union Pacific capital investments continue to support
our customers’ ability to grow, drive increased operating efficiencies for our
railroad and improve America’s transportation infrastructure," said Jim Young,
Union Pacific chairman and chief executive officer. "Union Pacific has invested
nearly $17 billion in our rail network since 2004 and remains committed to
running the railroad as efficiently as possible while providing customers with
the highest levels of service."

The construction project
included:

• More than 18,000 lineal
feet of notching to improve tunnel clearances in 15 restricted tunnels between
the California cities of Rocklin and Truckee;

• Upgrading 30 miles of
system signals to centralized traffic control standards, thus eliminating dark
territory and allowing signal technology to control train movement instead of
radio communications between dispatchers and locomotive engineers;

• Removing track, lowering
the floor and reinstalling track in two tunnels, and

• Installing rock bolts for
added stability in five tunnels.

"This project will benefit
our customers by improving our intermodal transit times compared to the current
Feather River Canyon route," said John Kaiser, Union Pacific vice president and
general manager – intermodal. "Completing this project will help us better
serve our customers while supporting economic growth in Northern California and
at the Port of Oakland."

Union Pacific’s Donner Pass
route is as much as 73 miles shorter and up to three hours faster than the
Feather River Canyon route, depending upon the destination.

"Our Feather River Canyon
route will continue to play a strategic role in how we serve our customers,"
Kaiser said. "The combined benefits of the Donner Pass improvements and our
existing Feather River Canyon route will provide additional flexibility to our
network as we strive to improve upon Union Pacific’s record levels of customer
satisfaction."

In addition to utilizing
the Donner Pass route for double-stack container rail traffic, the completed
construction project provides Union Pacific the ability to operate up to
9,000-foot trains, a 58 percent increase over the 5,700-foot trains that run
through Feather River Canyon.

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