UP launches another domestic intermodal service between LA, Chicago

Union Pacific Railroad continues to expand its domestic intermodal services between Southern California and the nation's largest rail hub.

Last week, the Class I announced it launched a new domestic intermodal service April 28 designed to trim transit time down to three days for shippers moving goods from Los Angeles to Chicago.

The service operates daily from UP's intermodal terminal in Industry, California, to its Global 2 intermodal terminal in Northlake, Illinois. The new offering also includes faster freight interchanges with other railroads for trains bound for the Ohio Valley and northeast U.S. destinations, UP officials said in a press release.

"We are delivering the service we sold to our customers — and we're now able to do it faster," said UP CEO Jim Vena. "Our railroad offers 70-mph service, allowing us to compete for business while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions up to 75%."

Westbound service from Global 2 to the Industry facility and UP's Lance M. Fritz Inland Empire Intermodal Terminal in Fontana, California, is offered as a premium train. It's the second premium train the Class I now offers daily between Los Angeles and Chicago, UP officials said.

"This new product … is part of our continuing effort to find new ways to meet our customers' needs while removing trucks off our nation's highways and providing a consistent, reliable product," said Kenny Rocker, UP's executive vice president of marketing and sales.