(The following article by Dan Piller was posted on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on July 21.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — Union Pacific Railroad said Thursday that it will build a $90 million, 300-acre intermodal terminal in San Antonio to serve its growing Pacific coast traffic as well as the new Toyota plant in the city.
The terminal will supplement UP’s existing intermodal facilities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area at Mesquite and in the Wilmer-Hutchins area of southeast Dallas.
The Omaha, Neb.-based railroad, which operates a majar classification yard in Fort Worth south of Vickery Boulevard, reported a profit of $390 million, or $1.44 per share, during the quarter ending June 30. A year ago, the second-quarter profit was $233 million, or 88 cents per share.
The profit came on record revenues of $3.92 billion, up 17 percent from the 2005 second quarter. The railroad had to endure an increase in fuel prices from $1.67 per gallon for diesel a year ago to $2.15 per gallon in the most recent quarter. But UP and other carriers have been able to offset some of those costs by imposing higher rates for shippers.
Chief Executive Jim Young said Union Pacific is considering a 15 percent increase in its capital budget for next year, including a speedup of expansion of its tracks from Los Angeles to El Paso. Union Pacific and BNSF Railway have both benefited significantly in recent years from shipments of Asian imports into Pacific coast ports, which then must be shipped inland.