OMAHA — Union Pacific Corp. will spend $55 million to buy 1 million railroad ties made mostly from recycled plastic for use in humid areas where wooden ties have to be replaced more often, Bloomberg News reported.
The six-year order is from North American Technologies Group Inc. The order is the largest ever for the plastic ties, which help hold railroad tracks in line, said Jim Gauntt, director of the Railway Tie Association trade group.
Union Pacific, the biggest U.S. railroad, expects plastic ties to last 50 years in humid states such as Louisiana, where wood ties can rot and need replacement in as little as seven years, Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said. Next year’s portion of the order represents about 4 percent of the 4 million ties Union Pacific plans to install during 2003.
Wood ties last an average of 35 years in all climates, Gauntt said. Railroads also buy ties made of concrete and steel as alternatives to wood. The plastic ties made by Houston-based North American Technologies also include recycled components such as rubber from discarded tires.
General Dynamics Corp. and Boeing Co. said they will ask a federal judge to bar the Defense Department from docking the defense contractors $2.3 billion over cancellation of the A-12 stealth attack aircraft.
The Pentagon notified General Dynamics and Boeing that it will start withholding the money on current government contracts, General Dynamics said in a statement.
The Defense Department and the companies have been battling in court for 11 years since the Pentagon canceled the aircraft in 1991, citing cost overruns and development delays. In August 2001, U.S. Court of Claims Judge Robert Hodges rejected damage claims by General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas Corp., later bought by Boeing.
The companies have appealed and said Monday that they will ask Hodges to block the government from docking them the $2.3 billion.
The A-12 was one of the largest defense procurement fiascoes in U.S. history. The plane, designed to penetrate heavily defended locations, never made it into production in spite of years of costly development.