HR0731 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0731 LRB097 17412 KXB 65035 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are pleased to congratulate Union Pacific Railroad on the 150th anniversary of the railroad in 2012; and

WHEREAS, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railway Act of July 1, 1862, creating the original Union Pacific; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific is the largest railroad in the Rail Capital of Chicago; the Proviso Rail Yard is located in Northlake, Bellwood, Berkeley, and Melrose Park and is one of the largest rail yards in the company's system; 25% of all of the rail traffic on the Union Pacific travels through the Chicago Rail Terminal; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific has rail yards throughout the State of Illinois located in Dolton, Chicago Heights, Rochelle, West Chicago, Dupo, and Salem, and has 2,201 miles of track traversing hundreds of communities; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific serves 115,000 commuters daily on the Union Pacific Metra North, Northwest, and West Lines, and operates more trains for Metra than any other carrier in the Chicagoland area; and

WHEREAS, Today, Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation, linking 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail and providing freight solutions and logistics expertise to the global supply chain; and

WHEREAS, Major commodities transported by Union Pacific include corn, soybeans, automobile parts, completed automobiles, and general merchandise; particularly important to the company is the coal mining industry in southern Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific's capital investment in Illinois was more than $470 million over the last 2 years; in 2010, Union Pacific had 4,035 employees in Illinois with an annual payroll of $327.3 million; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific, during the height of the Great Recession in 2009, spent $370 million to construct the Joliet Intermodal Terminal, creating thousands of transportation and construction jobs to compliment their other 6 intermodal container terminals throughout the State that collectively lift 1.3 million containers annually; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific partners with the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, and Metra in a number of public private partnerships, such as the CREATE Program, UP Metra West Line Improvement Project, and the Illinois High Speed Rail Project; and

WHEREAS, Union Pacific provided more than $675,000 to charitable organizations in the State; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Union Pacific Railroad on its 150th anniversary; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Union Pacific Railroad as a symbol of our respect and esteem.