FIBER OPTIC FOCUS

In August 2011, Union Pacific embarked on anew fiber construction project with CCCommunications along its rail corridor. The projectfollows the Truckee River through northern Nevadaas it winds its way eastward from Reno towardPyramid Lake.

Partnering with the railroad, CC Communications,one of Union Pacific’s new fiber customers, beganits project along the Nevada Subdivision westwardfrom Hazen to Reno, Nevada. As the formerSouthern Pacific Transportation Company tracknears the Reno area, the Truckee River Canyon pro-vides more than a few narrow areas with limitedaccess along the rail corridor which made it morechallenging due to the rocky terrain and multipleriver crossings.

“The new fiber optic cable being installed alongthe rail line will provide the bandwidth needed toallow CC Communications to offer state of the artservices to their customers in Churchill County”,said Robert (Bob) Adams, General Manager, CC

Communications. “The willingness of the UPRR towork with us to place this needed cable is muchappreciated. The UPRR has been outstanding to

A Union Pacific Railroad Publication Volume 26 • Number 3 • December 2011

New Fiber For Northern Nevada

CC Communication’s plow crew installing conduit and cable warning tape

Hydraulic impact hammer “Hoe-Ram” breaking rock inprepartion of installing conduit

continued on page 7

2 • FIBER OPTIC FOCUS

Colonel’s Inspection Trip Through theFeather River Canyon

The sky's the limit for a U.S. Air Force officer,Colonel Mike Greiner, who joined Union Pacificon an 11-month assignment Aug. 15 as a memberof the Secretary of Defense Corporate FellowsProgram (SDCFP).

Col. Greiner's work at UP will focus primarilyon Information Technology and processes thatsupport core business-user departments. He alsowill observe various inner workings of a largecorporation, including organizational structure,business practices and operations. Greiner's mis-sion will be mutually beneficial for the railroadand the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

While Col. Greiner provides insight from hismilitary experience, he and 13 other officersselected to train with American corporations dur-ing their nearly yearlong assignments are expectedto glean best practices that will enhance the DoD'sefficiency.

On November 30, 2011, Regional ConstructionCoordinator Ron Christensen, conducted a hyrailtrip through the Feather River Canyon from Jamesto Keddie, California, along the CanyonSubdivision with Col. Greiner, Ed Kemp – AVPTelecommunications and Craig Johnston –Director, Fiber Optics & Asset Utilization. Ron isresponsible for fiber optic construction coordina-tion between UP and commercial telecommunica-tion customers along the Feather River Canyon.He is also responsible for the safe and effective

activities related to specific fiber optic customer’scable routes located generally between Salt LakeCity, Utah, and Hayward, California.

This over the rail inspection of the territory pro-vided for an excellent opportunity for Col Greinerto gain insight on a typical day along the rail cor-ridor for the region. Fortunately for that day,Detector Car-22 (DC-22) was also performingwork in the territory. Dave Smith-Chief DetectorCar Operator and Russell Stewart-Detector CarOperator provided an excellent overview of raildetection operations and its capabilities. A culvertbeing installed in an area only accessible by rail atMilepost 253.96 demonstrated the types of equip-ment and the track protection process needed tocomplete such a project. Finally, a small rock slidewas encountered at Milepost 252.3 near Tobin,California that was cleared by the hyrail inspec-tion team to continue the journey to Keddie.

Following the trip, Col. Greiner reflected, “Thehyrail trip provided a thorough overview of howtrains and other departments within the UP systemcoordinate to ensure strong rail velocities whilemaintaining the highest level of safety. The com-plexity of railroad operations and the IT networkneeded to support these operations have been areal eye-opener during my Fellowship. Throw inthe scenery of the Feather River Canyon and greatweather, and this will be an experience I willremember for the rest of my career.”

Colonel Mike Greiner standing in front of hyrail vehicle

DECEMBER 2011 • 3

With the approach of 2012 Union Pacific forces arepreparing for the largest Engineering Departmentbudget ever to be allocated.

Across the system, miles of new sidings are to beconstructed with additional miles of length added toexisting sidings. New bridges will be built. Yardupgrades from Oregon to Texas and Minnesota areplanned to increase efficiencies and speed train move-ments and switching work.

Multiple Signal projects planned for the comingyear will extend Centralized Traffic Control or “CTC”to subdivisions presently operated by other means.Double main track construction projects will continuealong the Sunset Route and numerous other lines suchas the El Paso to Memphis Route and subdivisions inLouisiana and Idaho.

In Santa Teresa, New Mexico, construction continueson the new Strauss Yard facility, the largest construc-tion project in the state of New Mexico in a decade.When complete the new facility will be one of thelargest yards on the Union Pacific system.

Near Los Angeles, California, on Union Pacific’s

Alhambra Subdivision, construction work continueson the Colton “Fly Over.” The flyover is a 1.5 milelong elevated structure crossing 26 feet above a BNSFtrack to avoid crossing conflict with up to 70 trainsper day. When completed the flyover will improvetraffic congestion in the Los Angeles Basin andimprove train speeds for both the Union Pacific andthe BNSF. Three additional flyover tracks areplanned for Union Pacific lines in Nebraska in thecoming months.

Union Pacific is considering the possibility of con-structing a new Mississippi River bridge to replace anolder structure on the railroad’s Midwest corridor. Thenew bridge would be a clear span with sufficient ele-vation to allow barge traffic to pass under the bridgewithout affecting rail operations. The existing span iscurrently unavailable to rail traffic for 4-6 hours a dayto allow barge traffic to pass. On the border withMexico another bridge near Brownsville, Texas, isplanned, to eliminate traffic concerns and speed traininterchange into and from Mexico.

Working closely with U.P. Engineering, Amtrak is

Working on the Railroad

continued on page 4

Colton Yard

4 • FIBER OPTIC FOCUS

continuing with a multi-year passenger station andplatform improvement effort along Union Pacificlines. In places such as Alpine, Texas, new platforms are presently under construction.

Union Pacific has in recent years focused onimproving its fleet of locomotives to increasedependability, fuel economy, and train speeds leading to increased customer satisfaction andstockholder value. With an eye to the future amidgrowing demand for its services, the railroad isplanning well into the future to insure that itsinfrastructure will be ready for growth as demand increases.

As in the past, Union Pacific’s “Fiber OpticGroup” will closely coordinate with its counterparts in Engineering to insure its fiber customers receive notification well in advance ofany planned work to be done where fiber opticcables share the right of way with trains.

Working on the Railroad continued from page 3

Tunnel notching operations

Getting the Focus? Now available online at

Telecom/Fiber Optic/SAFT under the “About Us”section on www.up.com

Bill Wright/EditorBJWRIGHT@UP.COM

Installation of continuous welded rail andconcrete ties

DECEMBER 2011 • 5

In addition to the annual staffmeeting for Union Pacific’s Safety,Asset Utilization and Fiber OpticTechnology group during the endof October, a planned visit to theColorado 811 Center in Goldengave the group an “up close”view of the daily operations of adedicated damage preventionorganization.

Colorado 811, under the leader-ship of Executive Director J.D.Maniscalo, is Colorado’s one call(811) center dedicated to the pre-vention of damage to property orinjury to persons by anyone per-forming excavation work . It isgoverned by a board of directorscomprised of facility owners &

operators with professional excava-tor representation. Colorado 811issues an annual Damage DataReport for the state of Coloradoand makes recommendations thatoften become law.

Colorado 811 is also home tothe Damage Information ReportingTool “DIRT.” DIRT is a nationaldatabase of utility damage closelyaligned with the Common GroundAlliance, an organization promot-ing shared responsibility in utilityand pipeline damage prevention.All data reported to DIRT is on avoluntary basis.

In addition to the daily “CallBefore You Dig “ operations, theColorado 811 also offers dispute

resolution hearings known asAlternate Dispute Resolution toany facility owner, operator, exca-vator or other interested party forcertain disputes arising from dam-age to facilities from excavation.

As an 811 call center, anyoneunsure of the local phone numberfor the state one call center maycall “811” and be automaticallyrouted to the center. Colorado 811will process approximately fivehundred thousand “call before youdig” requests in 2011. The totalnumber of outgoing notices tomember facility owners and opera-tors is expected to surpass two anda half million.

The Colorado One Call Center

Union Pacific's SAFT group and team members of the Colorado 811 team are listed left to right: Tim Neumaier, Marty Mead, Paul Pino,Mike Shallow, Clarence Styvar, Don Tobias, Michael Heald, Ron Christensen, Mike Wallman, Steve Waits, Mike Argo, Bob Giery, Bill Wright,Brent Sumner, Phil Stevenson, Craig Johnston, J.D. Maniscalo, Sandy Samuelson, Jose Espino and Jeff Osthus.

6 • FIBER OPTIC FOCUS

August 11 is the day for everyone to rememberthat you should always use 811 to “Know What'sBelow” through the use of Call Before You Dig. Aswe conduct our job briefings today please keep inmind the important message of underground damageprevention.

Anyone that is planning to dig can help prevent theunintentional damage of an underground utility line.The use of the nationwide 811 number makes thisprocess so simple. As background, the 811 numberwas established in 2005 by the FederalCommunications Commission to provide an easy andfree method for protecting underground utility lines.All callers to 811 are connected to their local one callcenter, which notifies the appropriate utility compa-nies of the intent to dig. Professional locators are thensent to the requested digging site to mark the approxi-mate location of underground lines.

Striking a single line can cause injury, repair costs,fines and inconvenient outages. Every digging pro-ject, no matter how large or small, warrants a call to811. Installing a mailbox, putting in a fence, buildinga deck and laying a patio are all examples of digging

projects that need a call to 811 before starting. Forthose of us here at Union Pacific this would includethe installation of permanent markers, post and poles,the digging in of signal wires and utility lines andvirtually all projects located outside of the trackstructure. “On August 11 and throughout the year,we need to remind homeowners and contractors aliketo call 811 before digging to eliminate the risk ofstriking an underground utility line,” said MikeShallow, Manager of Union Pacific's Call-Before-You-Dig hotline. “Failure to call before digging results inmore than 250,000 unintentional hits annually, and wedo not want anyone’s project to become part of thestatistic.”

Union Pacific is proud to recognize and support thenational reminder to utilize the “Call 811 Before YouDig” campaign. Visit www.call811.com for moreinformation about 811 and the call-before-you-digprocess.

Call 811 Before You Dig

From left to right: Mike Shallow, Craig Johnston, Paul Pino, Mike Wallman and Jeff Osthus

DECEMBER 2011 • 7

Effective October 1, 2011, Tom hasonce again returned to the Safety,Asset Utilization & Fiber OpticsTechnology group within the IT-TelecommunicationsDepartment. Tom’s responsi-bilities include the licensingof all Union Pacific frequen-cies used for day to dayoperations as well as themanagement of UnionPacific wireless communica-tion sites. “We are very for-tunate to have Tom return toour work group. Tom is a greataddition to our team by bringinghis technological capabilities andapplying them to applications weenvision to be successful while meetingour customer commitments,” said CraigJohnston, Director-Fiber Optics & Asset Utilization.

His railroad experience began in January of 2000when he first joined the Precision Measurement

Vehicle (PMV) team as an operating groupwithin the Safety, Asset Utilization &

Fiber Optics Technology group.Ultimately, on July 1, 2008, the

PMV group transitioned its opera-tions to Union Pacific’sEngineering Department andcontinues to effectively collect,measure and process data alongthe railroad corridors. Duringhis tenure working within thePMV group, Tom was responsi-ble for collecting track side data

and processing the data for videosimulation.Tom graduated from Iowa State in

1999. He is happily married withfour children and his hobbies are read-

ing, riding his bike and spending time withhis family. “I couldn’t have found a better com-

pany to work for. The people here at Union Pacificare team oriented and willing to lend a helping hand.It’s like family here,” says Tom.

Tom McGovern Returns to the Fiber Optics and Asset Utilization Group

work with and if there is the potential to work withthem again in the future for long haul fiber optic proj-ects we would welcome their participation.”

Recent tunnel expansion work on the NevadaSubdivision in the Donner Pass area has enabled therailroad to utilize this Nevada route for double stackcontainer trains that were previously required to oper-ate over Union Pacific’s “Feather River Route” creat-ing a substantial increase in train traffic along the railline. The installation of the new cable will also serveto increase the railroad’s signal and communicationcapabilities creating new efficiencies for rail trafficacross this corridor.

Union Pacific’s Construction Coordinator, PhilStevenson, oversees this project and interacts withseveral of the other Construction Coordinators fromaround the Union Pacific system providing relief andsupport as needed to complete this project during thefirst quarter of 2012.

New Fiber For Northern Nevada continued from page 1

UP employees canaccess Fiber Optic Focus

on the employee homepage under “News and Info / Your

Local News”

Former Engineering Inspector – Fiber Optics,Robert M. McFadzen passed away suddenly October4, 2011. Robert started his career with UnionPacific in the Engineering Department on June 22,1959. He officially was assigned to the “Fiber Optic”group April 16, 1987. Robert worked with what hasbecome known as the Safety, Asset Utilization andFiber Optic Technology group until his retirement atthe end of the year in 1996. “I first worked withRobert on a fiber optic construction project generallyfrom North Little Rock to Van Buren, Arkansas. Isoon learned that Robert valued his integrity, workethics and he was one of the kindest individuals Ihave worked with. He was always willing to do what-ever it takes and travel to any location along our sys-tem to get the job done,” recalled Craig Johnston,Director-Fiber Optics and Asset Utilization.

Union Pacific Employees were saddened to learnof the sudden passing of longtime Sprint employeeIvan Keup. Ivan began his career many years agowith the Southern Pacific Railroad's TelecomDepartment and had been with Sprint since its incep-tion with the railroad. Ivan had become an employeeof Ericsson at the time of their agreement with Sprintand had for many years been the Sprint Techniciancovering the Southeast Texas area, including CorpusChristi, Texas. Union Pacific employees would like toextend their condolences to Ivan's family during thistime and wish them well.

FIBER OPTIC FOCUSUnion Pacific Railroad1400 Douglas St.,MS0640Omaha,Nebraska 68179-0640

8 • FIBER OPTIC FOCUS

PRESORTEDSTANDARD

U.S. POSTAGEPAID

OMAHA, NEPERMIT NO.75

In Memoriam ….