(The Associated Press circulated the following article on July 8.)
OMAHA, Neb. — Union Pacific Corp., which owns Union Pacific Railroad, said Thursday it is broadening volume restrictions in key corridors to accommodate unprecedented customer demand.
Union Pacific said it plans to institute an allocation system for certain shipments through key terminals and to reduce train starts. The changes will impact each of Union Pacific’s six commodity groups, the company said.
The company said it handled more carloads in the second quarter than in any other quarter in its history and expects the growth to continue.
In the past nine months, Union Pacific added 2,500 trainmen, began training 700 conductors as engineers and bought 500 locomotives. The company said it expects another 1,250 trainmen to complete training by the end of the third quarter.
Despite these measures, Union Pacific said it expects volumes in the second half of 2004 to exceed last year’s levels. However, the company did not change its previous revenue growth outlook of 4 percent to 6 percent.
Union Pacific said it is working to improve operating efficiency but that record volumes have made it difficult to improve service performance.
Shares closed down 71 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $57.59 on the New York Stock Exchange.