(The following appeared on the Houston Chronicle website on June 4, 2011.)
HOUSTON, Texas — Wherever oil and natural gas comes out of the ground, plenty of people make money, from the landowners and investors to the drilling equipment companies and crew workers.
So do the companies that provide services to those people. The railroads are among those companies, and they are grateful for the new South Texas oil and gas play known as the Eagle Ford shale.
Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Corp. has reopened a nearly dormant switching yard near downtown, has reactivated short lines in South Texas and has organized two new business development units, one to track down new customers and another to assist existing customers with their expanded needs stemming from the Eagle Ford.
Full story: Houston Chronicle