(The following story by Stacie Hamel appeared on the Omaha World-Herald website on June 24.)
OMAHA — Union Pacific Railroad will realign its regional operating divisions, cutting them from four to three, the company announced Friday. As of July 1, the Kansas City-based central region will be eliminated.
The realignment will help the railroad work more efficiently throughout its system, one official said.
“This is another step in simplifying our network and improving velocity, efficiency and customer service,” said Dennis Duffy, U.P. executive vice president of operations.
The Kansas City and St. Louis service units will join the Northern Region, based in Omaha. The North Little Rock and Wichita service units will join the Southern Region, based in Spring, Texas. These service units currently are part of the Central Region.
The Western Region, based in Roseville, Calif., remains unchanged.
The Central Region had the smallest staff with just nine employees, and four will move to Omaha, said spokeswoman Kathryn Blackwell.
“At the pace we’re hiring, anybody who wants to stay in Kansas City for any reason or wants to move somewhere else on the system is going to be able to find a job,” she said.
As part of the reorganization, the company made several promotions:
Joe Santamaria, 51, has been appointed vice president of transportation, replacing Jeff Koch, 59, who had announced his decision to retire later this year after 35 years with the railroad.
Santamaria will return to Omaha and will manage the regional field offices. He joined Union Pacific in 1990.
Randy Blackburn, 53, has been named vice president of the northern region and will be based in Omaha. He will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of trains over the 12,121-mile system in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.
Rod Richardson, 52, has been named general superintendent, Provo, Utah, service unit. He currently is general superintendent of the Harriman Dispatch Center in Omaha, where he supervised dispatching operations for the central region.
Rick Turner, 47, was appointed vice president of premium operations, focusing on the intermodal and automotive business groups. Since joining the Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1981, he has held a number of positions in engineering, operating and marketing, and most recently was vice president of U.P.’s National Customer Service Center in Omaha.
Replacing Turner in that position is Linda Brandl, 39. She has been assistant vice president and general manager of distribution services in Omaha.