I work in Reno/Sparks, Nevada for an LTL carrier. As I understood the merger as approved by the STB it was going to improver service and lower cost, this merger of the SP and the UP.
Is this a real fact? Prior to the complete melt-down of the merged companies during 1997/98, Union Pacific had planed to move its pig-ramp out to Patrick, NV so rumor has it?
With the complete failure of upper management to forecast yet another melt-down, I was told that the new ramp yard was month-balled because capital spending was diverted to overcoming operational problems during 1997/98.
About a year ago, I heard a rumor that stated that UP would give up its Parr pig yard, the owner wanted more money for the lease. Since that time the former SP intermodel facility at Sparks has been overburden, to the point of being un-useable by most. Its a mess.
The main girlie girl at the STB, sorry, I forgot this is a family board, takes the credit for so many bad calls!
What was her name, Linda…bet she living the life on a UP stipend!
Welcome to our forums. A couple of pieces of advice:
First, give people a chance to answer your questions before assuming that you’re not part of some “closed network of back-slapping buddies.” Your last post is only two hours after your original question… you’re assuming everyone spends every waking hour here. As much as I’d like to think they do, they don’t. It might take a little time to get an answer.
Second, and more imporant, alienating our users isn’t a good way to get answers. Take some time to get to know the culture here. I do my best to assure that our forum isn’t a place where people fly off the handle and one another, start calling each other names, and get into flame wars. It serves no purpose, and no one enjoys it. That’s why I encourage all of our members to e-mail me at editor@trains.com is they ever see inappropriate activities in our forum. Having all of our readers empowered to help make change has created a civil environment that our group of “back-slapping buddies” really enjoy spending time in. (Yes, I’ll admit we do have a large group of friends here, but it doesn’t mean they’re not willing to help newcomers… unless you alienate them.) Simply put, don’t come out in a defensive stance with six-guns blazing here. You won’t get much interaction from other users that way… well, then again, you might. They’ll tell you to go away, and I don’t want that. I know you have something to contribute, just do so in a civil manner.
And finally, from my point of view as the guy who’s put in charge of maintaining order and civility around here, don’t swear. I noticed in one of your other posts that you had. Please refrain from doing it in the future. Thanks.
Is Patrick the area that they unload the auto carriers at (north on 395 but before hungry valley)?
Second, I know there is a lot of truck movement in the Reno/Sparks area (lots of DCs) but it would seem that Roseville would be close enough unless a couple of comapnies would step up to guarantee enough shipments to make it worth UPs while? When I lived in Reno I never saw much going on at the lift facility in the yard at Sparks, but that was before the merger.
To add to Bergie’s post, I’d like to point out that sometimes you don’t get an answer because no one here knows. It happens quite often to me when I post computer tech-support questions on a computer forum.
On the ex-ESPEE route through Sparks/Reno Nevada, known as the “Overland Route” the UP operates only one Z train each way. Westbound, its the ZCSLT, eastbound its the ZLTCS. Each way more than 3/4 of the cars/pigs that make this train possible either are orgineated or are desninated at Reno. If it were not for the Nevada traffic this symbole train would not operate, PERIOD.
The UP-SP merger did occur and it isn’t going to be undone anytime soon barring an antitrust suit (highly unlikely in the current political climate) or a fire sale of major assets by UP.
The STB saw the SP going downhill fast,for a variety of reasons,and saw the merger into UP as the best way to save it.I’m sure there were other reasons as well that they approved the merger.Breaking up the UP-SP now would open up a whole new can of worms,and no one wants to deal with that.
Mark,any comments on this?
I don’t get it, what’s your point in bringing up Reno. If you read the merger prospectus of most of these mergers, you’d find many of the same sort of issues, projection of projects, and plans that never came to pass in each and every one. Since the SP-UP merger is a done deal, along with the Conrail breakup and the BNSF and I guess I should add CSX, then I suppose that we should view your communcations as rabble rousing because that’s essentially what it is.