Report Announces Development of New Cutting-Edge Hybrid Locomotive, Safety Improvements, and Industry Recognition for Sustainability

Union Pacific Railroad released its annual Building America Report, highlighting progress on key goals, including safety and sustainability, as well as the development and testing of a new cutting-edge hybrid battery-electric locomotive.

“The Building America Report is a comprehensive reflection on our daily drive toward operational excellence, our ongoing commitment to providing the safe, reliable service we promised our customers and our goal to provide meaningful work with best-in-class benefits for employees,” said CEO Jim Vena.

A key highlight in the report was Union Pacific’s partnership with ZTR, a leading rail technology company, to design and build hybrid-electric locomotives. Union Pacific will test six of these new locomotives, with the first locomotive deployed for testing next month. This innovative locomotive will run similarly to a hybrid car and is one example of Union Pacific’s continued research and development efforts to build a more sustainable future.

Union Pacific also improved on key safety metrics in 2023, underscoring its comprehensive and enhanced approach to safety. The railroad reduced year-over-year serious injuries by 15% from 2022. The reportable derailment rate declined 6% compared with 2022, and over the past 10 years, track-related derailments declined 28%.

The railroad continued to make headway on its climate action goals and has reduced absolute greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for Scope 1 and 2 by 19.1% since 2018. Union Pacific also worked with the Science Based Targets Initiative to update its target to the SBTi’s revised, 1.5-degree ambition guidance, resulting in a commitment for the company to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 50.4% by 2030 from a 2018 base year. Union Pacific also committed to reduce Scope 3 absolute emissions from our purchased goods and services, capital goods and fuel- and energy-related activities 50.4% by 2030 from a 2018 base year.

On the corporate transparency front, Union Pacific earned high scores for its leadership on climate initiatives and data disclosures, receiving an A- from CDP and being named to the 2024 edition of the JUST 100, an annual ranking of companies based on their business practices and corporate responsibility.

Related Article: Union Pacific Uses $600M from 2022 Green Bond to Reduce Carbon Footprint in Support of Climate Change Goals

With this year’s report, the Building America Report also includes information on topics formerly reported in the company’s Climate Action Plan and We Are One reports. Now fully comprehensive, the Building America Report will be released biennially, with a separate data supplement published annually.