(The following story by Joelyn Hansen appeared on the Beatrice Daily Sun staff website on January 19.)
BEATRICE, Neb. — Union Pacific Railroad is getting a new home in Marysville, Kan., as construction is scheduled to begin March 13 on a new 11,000-square-foot yard office and crew change facility.
Union Pacific Railroad, headquartered in Omaha, will construct the building in Marysville at Second and Jenkins streets, Kevin Harmer, UP manager of train operations in Marysville, said.
The new facility will include offices, conference room, communications office, crew computer room, control operators, simulator room, circulation, supply room, signal shop, storage shop and various other rooms for operation and employee convenience, Harmer said.
The new building will enable the UP offices and departments to be under one roof and closer to their railroad tracks, he said. Currently, many of their departments are operating several locations around town, instead of one location.
A new office will allow the Marysville office to work more efficiently, Harmer said.
Plus, this facility will enable them to be next to their railroad tracks, which were moved after a realignment about five years ago, Harmer said. Since the tracks were moved it has been the intent to have a new office built closer to their railroad tracks to enable better access to the offices for the employees and more efficient operations.
“It’s been in the makings for the past five years,” he said.
Construction on the new facility is expected to begin on March 13 once the Federal Emergency Management Agency has released the land, purchased from the city of Marysville, from the flood plain, Harmer said.
UP is able to have the land, the Westside Ball Park and adjacent property removed from the flood plain thanks to the improvements and the dike that was built in the area by the company, he said.
FEMA is still waiting a 90-day public comment period, to end March 13, asking for technical information or comments from people living within the flood plain before they can release the ground.
Once the ground is released and the modifications are made to the flood plain, UP will be able to build along with property owners in the area as it will allow them to make structural improvements and build where they previously could not.
“It was a great effort on everybody’s part,” Harmer said. “Not just the community and Marysville, Union Pacific, but also the (Kansas Department of Transportation) with the overpasses they built over our tracks.”
The new facility should be completed within six to seven months after construction begins, he said.