Greater expectations at (and for) Union Pacific
(The following story by Pat Foran appeared on the Progressive Railroading website on September 15, 2010.)
I’ve heard it since I started covering this industry in 1996: Given their sheer size and variety of cultural inclinations (and the corresponding snags and drags that accompany them), big freight railroads aren’t nimble enough to make meaningful service-performance improvement strides. I’ve heard that sentiment from execs at those very same big freight railroads.
Refreshingly, we’ve been hearing something a bit different of late. Service-sensitive CEOs and process-oriented strategic planners aren’t as willing to give up the ghost on big-road nimbleness. For example, the powers that be at Union Pacific Railroad say they’ve learned some hard lessons during the past decade: North America’s largest freight railroad must be “agile, resilient and have recoverability,” as UP Chairman, President and CEO Jim Young told Managing Editor Jeff Stagl (see this month’s cover story).
What’s more, UP must do “extraordinary things” in order to meet shippers’ service expectations.
The performance metrics and customer satisfaction ratings UP execs point to suggest the Class I’s customers believe, at the very least, that the railroad is on its way to becoming a better service provider. Making “extraordinary” part of the expectation mix will take some doing; it starts with a commitment, and UP officials have made one. They’ve put themselves out there, declaring: “We expect greater things from ourselves, and customers should, too.”