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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Union Pacific to invest $400 MILLION in rail hub project

    Union Pacific to invest $400M in Santa Teresa rail hub project

    By Brook Stockberger bstockberger@lcsun-news.com
    Posted: 01/07/2011 12:41:04 AM MST

    LAS CRUCES - A project that will bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the Santa Teresa area - and possibly create needed jobs - seems to be back on track.

    Gov. Susana Martinez will be in southern Do-a Ana County today to announce that Union Pacific Railroad plans to invest more than $400 million toward the total cost to relocate the Union Pacific hub from El Paso to Santa Teresa.

    Construction would begin after the governor and the state Legislature pass a related tax incentive.

    "This means a lot to our industrial sector and goes a long way to truly making southern Do-a Ana County a major industrial base," said Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator in Santa Teresa.

    Tony Popp, New Mexico State University economist, said many of the jobs at whatever facility is created will probably be transfers.

    "I don't know how many of the jobs will be brand new; the railroad, obviously, has union membership," Popp said. "It could take a lot of years to transfer everything over, but you can expect an expanded job base down there."

    Details will be released at Martinez's announcement, but there has long been talk about relocating the hub.

    In 2006, the Omaha, Neb.-based company announced the planned relocation. In 2008, the company reported that the project would create 60 new jobs and bring 285 jobs from El Paso. At the time, Luis Heredia, director of public affairs for Union Pacific, said the company hoped construction would be completed by late 2010 or early 2011. That, obviously, did not happen, but today's announcement seems to indicate the project is moving ahead.

    Popp's colleague, economist Jim Peach, said the announcement should be a boon to the recruitment of companies to the Santa Teresa industrial park.

    Having a railroad hub nearby will be attractive to companies looking to expand or relocate.

    "The impact will be in two parts; the first one is construction and that impact is kind of a one-time deal," Peach said. "Then you'll have the operational impact, and you'll have the ongoing attraction of new industry to the area."

    Martinez is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. today at 2800 Airport Road in Santa Teresa. The public is invited to the event, but must RSVP to Pacheco at (575) 589-2200, or via e-mail at jerry@nmiba.com.

    Brook Stockberger can be reached at (575) 541-5457.

    http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_17032805
    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 03-04-2014 at 01:28 PM.
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Santa Teresa rail hub to open early

    By Lauren Villagran / Journal Staff Writer - Las Cruces Bureau
    PUBLISHED: Tuesday, March 4, 2014 at 12:05 am

    Cargo trucks headed south into Mexico turn onto a narrow road shared with passenger traffic as they make their way to Mexico’s border highway. A man sells newspapers to passing drivers. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

    SANTA TERESA – Semi-trucks inched slowly over the U.S. border into Mexico in single file one recent weekday morning – just a hint of the traffic jam expected here in the coming months.

    Union Pacific Railroad will ramp up operations at its much-touted truck-to-rail hub through April and plans a grand opening May 28, about a year ahead of schedule.

    But observers in government and business on both sides of the border say neither side is ready to handle the expected increase in truck traffic at New Mexico’s fastest-growing commercial port of entry.

    Jerry Pacheco, vice president of the Border Industrial Association, a business group, describes the coming traffic as a “tsunami” and envisions a “swampland of trucks” if current infrastructure limitations are not resolved.
    Among the top issues are the single southbound cargo lane that exits Santa Teresa to San Jeronimo and narrow roadways that then feed to the border highway to Ciudad Juárez, as well as poor conditions at a key road in the Santa Teresa industrial park.

    “We’re not prepared for the volume of traffic we’re going to be getting here,” he said. “I am very worried that we are starting to react to the amount of commerce we have here instead of planning to accommodate it.”


    A view of Union Pacific’s new Santa Teresa rail hub, slated to open to truck-to-rail traffic in May. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

    At the sprawling UP rail hub – an 11.5-by-1 mile tract just minutes from the Mexican border – trucks will transfer their cargo to rail and vice versa. Pacheco said he expects an additional 500 to 800 trucks a day at the facility, coming to and from Ciudad Juárez and El Paso.

    Much of the pressure is on Mexico’s shoulders, New Mexico Border Authority Executive Director Bill Mattiace said. Construction in Santa Teresa to widen the single southbound cargo lane to three lanes is slated to begin in May, thanks to a previous $400,000 state capital outlay. That will move the bottleneck south of the border, he said.

    Mattiace heads to Mexico City today for a three-day binational meeting on border logistics and infrastructure. Eliminating the southbound bottleneck is the priority, he said, adding that he will request Mexico “upgrade, widen and match what we’re doing on the U.S. side.”

    “It’s so important that we create a mirror image of infrastructure on both sides,” he said.

    The Santa Teresa facility marks a key transfer point on the railroad’s haul between the ports of Long Beach, Calif., and hubs farther east in Houston and Fort Worth, Texas, and Kansas City, Kan. Eventually rail may link across the border, should Ciudad Juárez commit to shifting a freight rail line out of its downtown to the San Jeronimo industrial park that shares the border with Santa Teresa.

    In the meantime, the condition and availability of roadways for truck traffic is the primary issue on both sides of the border, observers say.

    In Mexico, the single cargo lane joins a narrow two-lane road that carries trucks and passenger traffic north and south.

    San Jeronimo sits at the far western edge of Ciudad Juárez, and today there is little development besides the factory of Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn, which produces Dell computers for export to the United States.


    Cars wait to cross into Santa Teresa, while a southbound passenger lane into Mexico sits empty. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)

    Asked whether San Jeronimo is ready for UP’s launch, Ciudad Juárez Mayor Enrique Serrano said, “No, not yet. We still need to build roads and infrastructure projects to support the services that will be needed,” such as warehouses, industrial spaces and residential.

    Traffic has been climbing at the port, with trucks heading south loaded with supplies for Mexico’s assembly factories and goods from automotive parts to computers and blades for wind turbines heading north. The number of trucks crossing at Santa Teresa increased 57 percent in five years, to nearly 81,000 from just over 51,000 in 2009.

    Miriam Baca Kotkowski, president of Omega Trucking, said her company moves some 200 trucks monthly through the Santa Teresa port of entry. She said she sees enormous potential at the only major land port in the region – El Paso’s ports of entry are all bridges – which is also uniquely prepared to handle oversize and overweight trucks.

    “I believe the volume will increase tremendously,” she said, but cautioned that, especially with regard to infrastructure on the Mexican side, “we are in desperate need of expansion. We have been begging for some attention.”


    “We’re expecting that when the freight, the cargo, is put onto the trains, we’ll have empties,” Mattiace said. “We’re projecting 100 to as high as 300 trucks per day taking the border highway back to Juárez maquilas,” as the city’s assembly plants are known.

    Santa Teresa recently expanded its ability to handle cargo traffic coming north, and Pacheco notes that a planned pilot program in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection will preclear vehicles in San Jeronimo will help, as will the expanded southbound lane.

    But in the Santa Teresa industrial park, Airport Road, which was built in the 1980s, is crumbling, and it’s not clear yet if the port of entry expansion will suffice, Pacheco said. A request for $2 million in state funding for road repairs failed during the legislative session.

    “My team is recruiting brand new companies,” he said. “We’ve got a couple of bigger deals in the hopper. When do we finally choke the golden goose by not feeding it?”`


    http://www.abqjournal.com/362384/new...c-tsunami.html
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Union Pacific unveils $400M Santa Teresa ra​il facility

    By Vic Kolenc / El Paso Times
    POSTED: 05/28/2014 03:17:44 PM MDT


    New Mexico governor Susana Martinez, right, drives a ceremonial golden spike with Sen. Tom Udall, Chihuahua, Mexico governor Cesar Duarte and state Rep. Jane Powdrell-Culbert, far left, during the grand opening for the Union Pacific Intermodal Terminal in Santa Teresa, N.M. Wednesday. (Rudy Gutierrez / El Paso Times )


    New Mexico politicians showered Union Pacific officials with accolades Wednesday during the official christening of the railroad's new, $400 million, 2,200-acre rail facility in Santa Teresa, which officials expect to bolster economic development in this region for years to come.

    New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez even had the more than 700 people, who were assembled underneath a huge white tent on a hot, sunny morning at Union Pacific's new facility, give railroad officials a standing ovation.


    "What an amazing achievement. And it was completed one year ahead of schedule," Martinez said. "This sets up Santa Teresa to be an intercontinental hub."


    The facility includes one of Union Pacific's largest fueling facilities and the railroads's largest intermodal freight terminal along the U.
    S.-Mexico border. The 300-acre, high-tech intermodal terminal opened April 1 and is expected to process more than 170,000 freight containers this year, and many more in the future, from West Coast ship ports and inland terminals in Chicago and other metro areas.U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, called the new facility "amazing."

    "These railroad tracks bring more than freight. They bring new business, new jobs, and new hope."


    Dona Ana County Commissioner David Garcia called the new facility "earth shattering" because of the multiple millions of dollars it brings into the New Mexico economy, and the 600 jobs it will eventually bring to Santa Teresa. About 300 people, including Union Pacific contractors, now work at the facility.


    "I would say that is pretty incredible and downright outstanding," Garcia said. "Thank you, Union Pacific."


    U.S. Rep. Steve Pierce, R-New Mexico, said the facility "will become the future of this part of the state." But, he also advised local and state officials to continue to build the necessary infrastructure the area will need.


    "Because there is going to be amazing growth here in the future," Pierce said.


    Union Pacific Chief Executive Officer Jack Koraleski said the new facility is making Santa Teresa "a strategic focal point for goods movement in the Southwest United States."


    The new intermodal facility will allow the railroad to grow its freight business in this region because its old El Paso facilities could not be expanded, Koraleski said.


    A steady stream of trucks haul the containers in and out of the facility via the new, six-mile state-built Strauss Road. The trucks can get through the mostly automated intermodal terminal in an average one to two minutes, he said. The national average for intermodal truck processing is five to six minutes, he said.


    "This is a critical facility for our future," he said after his speech.

    Union Pacific has been building double tracks between Los Angeles and El Paso, but "we need locations like this to grow our business," he said.


    The old El Paso intermodal facility in East Central El Paso and its Downtown El Paso freight yards are not going away as some people have thought, Koraleski said. The El Paso facilties will be used to expand Union Pacific's traditional box car freight business in this area, he said.


    The railroad continues to employ several hundred people in El Paso even though many train crews now work out of the Santa Teresa's crew-change buildings, railroad officials said.


    Koraleski said the new facility was made possible by legislation passed by the New Mexico Legislature and signed by Gov.


    http://www.elpasotimes.com/latestnew...-rail-facility
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    Union Pacific expands Texas intermodal terminal to handle rising cross-border traffic

    Reynolds Hutchins, Associate Editor | Sep 30, 2015 5:48PM EDT



    Booming business at Union Pacific Railroad’s intermodal ramp in North Laredo, Texas is spurring a $90 million expansion at the facility tapping U.S.-Mexico cross-border trade.


    The first phase of the project, slated for completion in 2016, includes the acquisition of approximately 37 acres, the opening of a new entrance, installation of an automated gate system and the construction of new buildings on the site.


    The new entrance and automated gate system will allow for improved traffic in and out of the facility, which handled 47 percent of all UP border crossings last year alone, as well as extend the potential operating hours of the facility all the way to 24/7 as demand warrants, UP Jeffrey Degraff told JOC.com


    A second phase, which will double the facility's size and truckload capacity, has been outlined and will include additional track work and expanded parking for cargo carriers, Degraff added. A timeline has not been set for this second phase, but will be based on volumes and our customer demands, he said.


    Increased intermodal volumes at UP
    have been boosted by booming U.S.-Mexico cross-border trade, which in turn has been driving railroads -- not just UP -- to expand capacity on either side of the border.


    “Union Pacific is pleased to participate in the economic growth seen in the US (especially Texas) and Mexico,” Degraff said.

    “Our Port Laredo facility is an excellent example of economic development on both sides of the border.”


    UP is the only railroad to serve all six gateways along the U.S.-Mexico border. In 2014, UP handled 65 percent of the north- and southbound rail market share between the U.S. and Mexico — though the railway does not isolate intermodal from carload volumes.


    Total Mexico volumes increased 8 percent in 2014 after growing 3 and 5 percent in 2013 and 2012, respectively. One of the primary factors behind the 2014 cross-border volume growth was in the shipment of agricultural products, which increased 29 percent when compared to the drought-impacted comparison of 2013. Southbound grain shipments and northbound U.S. import beer volumes accounted for a majority of the growth. New cross-border intermodal shipments and growing automotive volumes were also primary drivers of increased shipments in 2014.


    “As the economies in both countries grow and shift, we look forward to meeting customer needs, whether they be in the energy, automobile, manufacturing or agricultural industries,” Degraff said.


    UP’s planned expansion at Laredo follows hot on the heels of the completion of Kansas City Southern Railway’s new Wylie Intermodal Terminal. After 12 months of construction and more than $64 million of investment, the Missouri-based railroad cut the ribbon at the new terminal earlier in July in Wylie, Texas, a city just 30 miles northeast of Dallas.


    Wylie’s first phase will offer an annual lift capacity of 342,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, more than 50 percent the capacity of KCS’s neighboring terminal in Zacha. The Zacha terminal, which has an annual intermodal lift capacity of 168,000 TEUs, will now be used for transloading and automotive operations, the company has said.


    To prepare for future intermodal growth on that lane, KCS has also been building and extending sidings at Los Chivos, San Cristobal, Melchor Ocampo, Corondiro and Lazaro Cardenas as well as expanding its existing intermodal terminal in Kendleton, Texas.


    The Port Laredo expansion also follows the construction on UP’s own sprawling intermodal terminal and fueling station in Santa Teresa, New Mexico last year. The $400 million facility allows UP to refuel its longer trains more efficiently than it could in El Paso, Texas, the site of its former intermodal ramp about 15 miles to the southeast.

    http://www.joc.com/rail-intermodal/c..._20150930.html
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