OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators have directed the Union Pacific Railroad to ensure a rancher gets the grain it needs in California to keep millions of chickens and hundreds of thousands of cattle from starving.
The US Surface Transportation Board told the railroad that it needed to improve service to Foster Farms to prevent it from running out of feed for the livestock it raises. It’s the second time in the past year that regulators have issued an emergency order related to delivery issues at Foster Farms in Livingston, Calif., as the railroad struggled with a shortage of crews.
This time, however, Union Pacific blamed the weather for its troubles. Spokesman Mike Jaixen said last month’s extreme cold and snowstorm conditions slowed deliveries in 20 of the 23 western states where the railroad served, and additional problems are possible due to forecasts of harsher winter weather.
“Union Pacific remains committed to serving all of our customers as efficiently as possible, including Foster Farms, weather permitting,” Jaixen said.
Foster Farms asked the STB to get Union Pacific to give priority to grain trains going from the Midwest to the rancher’s facilities in Traver, Turlock and Delhi, California.
Union Pacific said problems at Foster Farms should improve once five trains of corn already underway arrive, but Jaixen declined to provide an update on those trains Tuesday. The railway sends updates to the STB, but wishes to keep this customer-specific information confidential.
Foster Farms attorney Thomas Wilcox said in a letter to regulators that the company had little confidence that UP would deliver on its promises because the railroad had not delivered any of its grain trains on time in the past two weeks.
So, in the meantime, Foster Farms has bought dozens of truckloads of expensive corn to keep its chickens alive while it waits for the grain trains to deliver, but those truckloads can no longer meet its needs.
The story goes on
Union Pacific said its performance has improved since the spring, when Foster Farms and many other shippers went before the STB to complain about chronic delivery problems at most major railcars that were disrupting their businesses.
UP and the other major rail freight companies have hired hundreds of new employees since the beginning of the year to help them better handle all shipments. But railway managers recognize that their service still falls short of customer expectations and needs to continue to improve.
Regulators also recently criticized Union Pacific’s practice of capping customer shipments as part of its efforts to ease congestion along the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad’s 32,400 miles of track in the western half of the United States remove.