September 12, 2023 - TRA Newswire

The newest offering of intermodal rail freight service between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico by Union Pacific Railroad now takes one day less transit time for customer shipments. 

The announcement of the faster Eagle and Falcon Premium rail services was made by Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena at Morgan Stanley's 11th Annual Laguna Conference today.  

Union Pacific recently removed a full day of transit time for customers shipping on Eagle and Falcon Premium to make it more competitive with trucking companies and other rail competitors like CPKC.

"Union Pacific has a great network and we will continue leveraging it to offer our customers competitive, world-class service", said Vena. "I'm optimistic about the strong performance and the growth potential as a result of our operational excellence and opportunities created by the nearshoring trend in Mexico.

The transit improvements will directly compete with truck traffic, a mode that had been siphoning business away from railroads for quite a while. Intermodal customers shipping automotive parts, food, home appliances, temperature-controlled products and freight of all kinds could benefit from faster deliveries by rail.

The Eagle Premium service delivers seamless interchange between Mexico, Chicago, the West Coast, and eastern U.S. points, including Detroit, Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky. 

Falcon Premium, developed jointly with Canadian National (CN) and Grupo Mexico (GMXT), serves all CN points within Canada and Detroit, Michigan.

The Eagle and Falcon premium services take advantage of UP's route between Texas and Chicago.  “Hundreds of miles are saved on the Union Pacific route from Mexico to Chicago, eastern U.S. cities and Canada compared to other solutions, and for our customers, this translates into service dependability and total delivered cost savings,” said Kenny Rocker, Union Pacific executive vice president – Marketing and Sales. “We're excited to offer this one-of-a-kind service and expect our customers to win in the marketplace.”

Union Pacific is the only railroad to serve all six of Mexico's major gateways. There will be seven-day per week service between GMXT terminals in Mexico at Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo and Silao, Guanajuato. Service will include both interchange with GMXT at Eagle Pass, Texas and well as through UP's Port Laredo Intermodal Terminal at Laredo, Texas. 

Photo credit: Union Pacific