HR0731LRB097 17412 KXB 65035 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to congratulate Union Pacific
4Railroad on the 150th anniversary of the railroad in 2012; and
 
5    WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific
6Railway Act of July 1, 1862, creating the original Union
7Pacific; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Union Pacific is the largest railroad in the Rail
9Capital of Chicago; the Proviso Rail Yard is located in
10Northlake, Bellwood, Berkeley, and Melrose Park and is one of
11the largest rail yards in the company's system; 25% of all of
12the rail traffic on the Union Pacific travels through the
13Chicago Rail Terminal; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Union Pacific has rail yards throughout the State
15of Illinois located in Dolton, Chicago Heights, Rochelle, West
16Chicago, Dupo, and Salem, and has 2,201 miles of track
17traversing hundreds of communities; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Union Pacific serves 115,000 commuters daily on
19the Union Pacific Metra North, Northwest, and West Lines, and
20operates more trains for Metra than any other carrier in the
21Chicagoland area; and
 

 

 

HR0731- 2 -LRB097 17412 KXB 65035 r

1    WHEREAS, Today, Union Pacific Railroad is the principal
2operating company of Union Pacific Corporation, linking 23
3states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail and
4providing freight solutions and logistics expertise to the
5global supply chain; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Major commodities transported by Union Pacific
7include corn, soybeans, automobile parts, completed
8automobiles, and general merchandise; particularly important
9to the company is the coal mining industry in southern
10Illinois; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Union Pacific's capital investment in Illinois
12was more than $470 million over the last 2 years; in 2010,
13Union Pacific had 4,035 employees in Illinois with an annual
14payroll of $327.3 million; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Union Pacific, during the height of the Great
16Recession in 2009, spent $370 million to construct the Joliet
17Intermodal Terminal, creating thousands of transportation and
18construction jobs to compliment their other 6 intermodal
19container terminals throughout the State that collectively
20lift 1.3 million containers annually; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Union Pacific partners with the State of Illinois,

 

 

HR0731- 3 -LRB097 17412 KXB 65035 r

1the City of Chicago, and Metra in a number of public private
2partnerships, such as the CREATE Program, UP Metra West Line
3Improvement Project, and the Illinois High Speed Rail Project;
4and
 
5    WHEREAS, Union Pacific provided more than $675,000 to
6charitable organizations in the State; therefore, be it
 
7    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
8NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
9we congratulate Union Pacific Railroad on its 150th
10anniversary; and be it further
 
11    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
12presented to Union Pacific Railroad as a symbol of our respect
13and esteem.