Western Railroad Discussion > Questions on UPS terminals

Where do UPS trailers get loaded in the LA area? Is that facility owned and operated by UPS or the carriers? Do both BNSF and UP have access to the same facility? Will the move from BNSF to UP require a change of loading terminals for UPS in the LA area? Who owns and operates Willow Springs? BNSF or UPS? The original news item said the trains were to use BNSF trackage rights (old SP rights over BNSF), so does this mean UP trains will be delivering to Willow Springs ramp also?

From what I understand, UPS actually owns and operates the facility in North Bay, and that facility is only served by BNSF (no UP rights there), which is probably why BNSF has retained the old 991/199 traffic. Im sure the trailers could be drayed over to Lathrop or somewhere on UP, but it seems like that plan would essentially involve UPS writing off the capital they have in the North Bay terminal. That may have been too much of a cost for UPS to warrnat switching in that corridor.

Im just curious how much of the recent UPS switch to UP is because of the terminal situation and access by both carriers to said terminals in that corridor? Would UPS have given more traffic to UP had joint access to terminals been possible in other corridors as well?

UPS probably has more than one LA consolidation center, but one is across the street from L.A. Hobart, the BNSF intermodal terminal that handles the UPS trains. If I'm not mistaken, UP is just on the other side of BNSF, but I'm not for sure. North Bay, Willow Springs, and Mesquite are the only UPS centers I can think of that are essentially integrated with the rail intermodal terminal serving them.

North Bay is a UPS consolidation center. I'm pretty sure BNSF is responsible for the lift - on, lift - off and switching, etc. As far as I know UPS is locked into BNSF there (as with UP Mesquite, TX).

Willow Springs is the BNSF intermodal terminal adjacent to the UPS consolidation center, which if I recall correctly is technically in Hodgkins. BNSF serves UPS and other premium customers from that facility, like the LTL carriers. I'm pretty sure it will be a cold day in Hell when UP originates / terminates trains there. UP may have running rights on the main, but I would be astounded if those rights extend to any customers along the way or to BNSF's terminals.

Does BNSF do any UPS lifting at Alliance TX? How close is Alliance to Mesquite?

Alliance is about 50 miles from Mesquite. And there is a fascinating rail shuttle between the two which speaks volumes about the relationship between UPS, UP, BNSF, and UPS and their unions. Plus, it's a really neat little operation, to boot.

UPS is a vast, multi - layered network. The UP BNSF shuttles handle the long haul traffic UPS is committed to handling all rail. There is also a lot of UPS traffic that comes in (and goes out) the gate at Alliance (and Mesquite) that is not part of that longer haul all - rail flow.

I wish I knew more about it, but the UPS business at Mesquite / Alliance covers just about every possible combination. In the gate off the street to go out by rail, in by rail to go out on the street, and in by rail to connect by rail, all in both directions (or all four, depending on how you look at it).

UPS has a special gate they use into Hobart in LA via 26th ST. It will be interesting to see if they request and get a seperate gate into UP ELA yard.

In Richmond, there is a seperate UPS yard just East of Pinole that has 2 tracks for UPS only.

For several years now the main UPS sort facility in LA is on North Main Street, on the old PMT terminal site, immediately north of UP's (former SP) LATC. The sort facility on Washington Blvd has been sold and is used by an import-export firm that doesn't use much intermodal, and a new cold storage firm, ditto on little if any intermodal. So a switch to UP should be cost-effective for this traffic. The UPS Ontario facility is a little bit further from UP's (former SP) City of Industry ramp than BNSF's San Bernardino ramp, and traffic to Industry is typically tougher, and Industry is primarily a domestic stack terminal now.

UPS has/had a truck only sort facility between Bandini and 26th street just west of Soto. The gate from there is on 26th street, which is about 1/4 mile from the gate into Hobart on 26th street. No parcel vans use this facility, it is I believe eclusive for Intermodal staging only. If this is still in use, UPS to ramp to UP ELA would have to go out their gate to the right, turn right at the Soto st. frontage road to get to Soto st North, turn right onto Washing to get to UP ELA yard. Trucks from UP ELA to this facility would have to either go to Atlantic or Santa Fe.