Union Pacific Railroad (UP) announced it will be idling its Global 3 Intermodal Ramp in Rochelle, IL, in early July.
According to the USDA's Grain Transportation Report, UP seeks to simplify operations through the congested Chicago region by allowing its Global 2 and Global 4 facilities to focus on a specific business segment.
The Global 2 facility will distribute domestic intermodal volume while the Global 4 facility will handle predominantly international intermodal shipments.
UP hopes the new configurations will make operations faster and more efficient, while offering benefits for its customers as well.
UP reports, “By condensing specific shipment types to a single facility, customers will likely benefit from fewer vendors to manage, simplified billing and, in some cases, reduced chassis repositioning costs.”
The Chicago region originates the majority of containerized grain exports in the country.
