It’s already been made clear that the name of the merged transcontinental railroad will be “Union Pacific”. So there will be no transitions like the ones for Missouri Pacific…
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It’s also clear that Union Pacific is the sugar daddy in this merger relationship as well. It’s not a merger of equals. I kept the holdings in the trust I manage but reduced them. I dumped my personal holdings in UP stock. The risk is increasing for UP and I am not sure I see the benefit of the transaction.
It is straight up, UP purchasing NS. Not a merger. Now, what will combined RR look like and where will offices be? Omaha. But, a decent chance IT, and maybe some other staff could be in Atlanta. Much easier location to attract talent.
Nah, that new office building down there will attract a pretty penny on the market. They’re not going to keep a couple IT guys there.
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And I don’t blame them. The last thing I want while being hurtled through town in a giant metal tube is for the person operating it to be stoned or drunk. I ain’t a teetotaler and I have friends who toke but chase the dragon when you ain’t responsible for hundreds of tons of potential death and destruction.
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Most likely, but not quite a slam dunk.
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Would that be for an operations center or corporate headquarters? Atlanta is much more attractive than Omaha.
But Omaha is much more central to combined operations than Atlanta.
Of course, I think they made a mistake leaving Roanoke, so my bias may be showing…
The Harriman dispatcing center is the clear winner, for day to day operations. It’s hardened for diaasters.
For staff…Atlanta would be better for travel around the system (airport and airfares!), talent recruiting and retention. But, you ain’t getting UP out of Omaha with a crowbar!
IT talent is the hardest to get and keep. So, maybe…
And getting harder very soon.
All this disparaging of Omaha. It’s still better than Council Bluffs. Or as many, including some residents call it, Counciltuckey.
Would the Harriman complex have room for NS dispatchers? Then there’s UP’s CADX and NS’s Trip Planner dispatching systems. Throw in the normal SOP of the left hand not knowing, nor caring, what the right hand is doing, implementation should go just fine.
Jeff
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From what I have been told by some UP people, no it wouldn’t.
Vena has stated ATL will be kept for R&D, etc. Of course this doesn’t mean that floor space won’t get leased out in ATL. I imagine NS will occupy some portion of it based on the proposed timelines.
Of course he’s going to say that.
Airlines tailor their route structures to the passenger load - having additional UP personnel around the country will increase the importance of Omaha on airlines route structures and provide more flights.
The early years of CSX with HQ staff in both Baltimore and Jacksonville kept Eastern Airlines in business with CSX employees shuttling between the locations for the decade following the creation of CSX in 1980 until virtually all HQ personel were relocated to Jacksonville. Shortly thereafter Eastern went out of business.
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