(The Associated Press circulated the following article on July 31.)
RAWLINS, Wyo. — Union Pacific Railroad is planning to hire 255 new employees nationwide this year, including 61 in California.
There are 105 new hires expected in Wyoming, along with 28 in Nebraska and 22 in Oregon.
One reason new employees are needed is a change to the Railroad Retirement Act in 2002 that allowed railroad workers to retire at 60 instead of 65 and still receive maximum benefits.
“We need to hire in an effort to replace those that were retiring as well as increase the work staff a little bit to handle the influx of goods and the increase in traffic,” Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said.
“We’re still seeing extremely strong volumes across the railroad,” he said. “A lot of that is the economy. Intermodal traffic – containers on a flatcar – that type of service continues to grow.”