Western Railroad Discussion > UP starting intermodal service Twin Cities to LA

On their website...Union Pacific is proud to offer our intermodal customers a new product in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota market. The Twin Cities Intermodal Terminal will feature domestic intermodal service between the Twin Cities and Los Angeles markets. The new terminal is strategically located in the heart of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, giving local and regional shippers and receivers efficient access to Union Pacific's intermodal network and a new alternative in the marketplace. Service will begin in early January 2021 for domestic containers moving between the Twin Cities and Los Angeles markets. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to expand services into the Twin Cities Intermodal Terminal throughout 2021.


Post Vena move? 

So is this a dedicated train or just tacking intermodal cars onto preexisting ones?

If it is a dedicated train, I assume it would go down the Spine Line to Des Moines, then via the Overland Route to Salt Lake City, then down to line via Las Vegas to LA.

Hope this new service succeeds, but yet again it is UP.

Just to clarify if they go down the Spine Line they would join the Overland route at Nevada, Iowa not Des Moines.

Doug

Posted from Android

Why not the  old CMO (Omaha) route to Council Bluffs?

They wouldn't run thru Council Bluffs, they'd go Mo Valley to Fremont over the Blair Cutoff

Out 

Will be interested to see which way the business goes, too.  They are calling it 8 day service, so not expedited.  Guess it could go to Chicago Global 2 then west at that rate.  Either way probably tacked to existing manifests. Looking at Google maps the intermodal yard, or the yard there, looks pretty decrepit.  Presuming they built a new terminal.   

what is the sudden demand to the twin cities???

66

What is the truck time between the city pair?  Guessing third day.

millerdc Wrote:
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> What is the truck time between the city pair? 
> Guessing third day.

Probably a good guess.  This isn't the only lane where they advertise 6+ day service so there must be a decent price advantage.  Presuming it's mainly Hub Group and EMP so thinking they did the leg work. 

Ramp appears to be located where the NS RoadRailer Twin Cities service was ramped (operated on UP via Butler and Altoona)

Could also go Sunset via KC and not Overland Route,

No double stack clearance via Butler, there was a famous Aerowedge oopsie near Milwaukee there a few years back.

Stacked 53s maybe clear on most of the Spine Line but not sure about crossing the Mississippi at St Paul.

CMO+MoPac generally runs directional NB KC-Twin Cities via CB and Sioux City. And Spine Line SB. But not exclusively. Not sure about clearance on the former.

Which yard in the Twin Cities is UPs intermodal terminal?

Twin Cities down the Spine gives you DSM, Kansas City, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio/SAIT and El Paso/Mexico. There has got to be some intermodal business in this corridor or connecting points. But then again you have to want to have business in the first place.....

Posted from iPhone

callum_out Wrote:
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> They wouldn't run thru Council Bluffs, they'd go
> Mo Valley to Fremont over the Blair Cutoff
>
> Out 
If they came down through St. James and Sioux City, they could turn left at California Jct and head west over the Blair Sub. Although I hope (and I think the good doctor, Dr. Know, would too) comes down via Nevada and heads west over the exCNW, I would not discount them doing this.
And to heck with this "Spine Line" crap.  It's the "Short Line" darnit.  Other RI former employees and fans will understand. :) 

To add to the puzzle, right now the pair of "I" trains between LA and Chicago go different routes.  The IG2LA goes via California Jct/Overland, while the ILAG2 goes Sunset to GSR thru Kansas City.   There is intermodal service between Council Bluffs ramp and Long Beach, but I don't think there are dedicated trains so it runs on something else.  Tbat's also rocket speed 8 day service. 

The IG2LA is not a train, it's a slow moving desert reptile! Don't think so? Go watch it.

Out 

memphisfreight Wrote:
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> Will be interested to see which way the business
> goes, too.  They are calling it 8 day service, so
> not expedited.  Guess it could go to Chicago
> Global 2 then west at that rate.  Either way
> probably tacked to existing manifests. Looking at
> Google maps the intermodal yard, or the yard
> there, looks pretty decrepit.  Presuming they
> built a new terminal.   

7th AM availability eastbound and 8th PM westbound (effectively 9th AM).

What's even worse it this bit from the announcement on UP's website:

• "We are excited to introduce an intermodal terminal strategically located in the heart of the Minneapolis – St. Paul metropolitan area that offers efficient access to Union Pacific’s intermodal network," said Kenny Rocker, executive vice president - Marketing and Sales. "This new marketplace alternative will give regional shippers and receivers fast, direct and reliable intermodal service to key markets." [emphasis in bold added]

Sorry, it's slow--not fast. So here we have another example of an EVP at UP spouting nonsense. Moreover, it's really insulting to the intelligence of the existing and prospective customers to try to characterize the service as "fast."

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/20 12:53 by Bandito.

Doesn't BNSF do this in on 4 or 5 days?

tomstp Wrote:
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> Doesn't BNSF do this in on 4 or 5 days?

If so then UP's price point has to be lower.  They would be looking for customers who can stand the extra 3-4 days for less fare, which means this traffic will get hitched onto M trains to where it can eventually connect to an I train.   I can't see them starting a service and upgrading the ramp otherwise.  At least you wouldn't think.  Of course, there's Brazos Yard and the arrowedges.  So we'll see.

So the Z-ALTSTO9-19 came thru Tehachapi last night. Z is an expedited priority train, ATL is Alliance TX in the Dallas are, STO is Stockton CA, 9 is the hot
expedite code for that train and 19 is the 19th of November when the train left Alliance, yesterday was the 20th. That all describes true expedited service.

Out 

goneon66 Wrote:
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> what is the sudden demand to the twin cities???
>
> 66

Perhaps trying get get a bigger piece of the growing containerized grain market in the area.