Union Pacific Railroad announces tripling of Rail Car Traffic & Future Growth

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2015

Union Pacific Railroad (U.P.) Border Affairs Director Ivan Jaime of San Antonio, Texas held a press conference on Monday, August 31, 2015 at the U.P. Depot located at 348 N. Converse Street in Eagle Pass, Texas, together with guests Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu, U.S. Representative Will Hurd (TX-23, R), and Constellation Brands Senior Vice-President James P. Ryan, to announce that U.P. had tripled its railcar traffic through the Eagle Pass Port of Entry Railroad Bridge owned by U.P. up to 1,800 cars per day from its 2004 mark of 500 cars daily.

Jaime also announced that U.P. intended to continue growing its daily railcar traffic through Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras in the immediate future when Constellation Brands completes the expansion of its Cerveceria Coahuila (Modelo/Corona) beer brewery plant in Nava, Coahuila, Mexico sometime in September or October of 2016. The state of the art brewery when its expansion is completed will be the largest beer brewery in the world. All 100 percent of its Modelo beer brands such as Corona manufactured at the Nava, Coahuila plant is for export to the United States.

Joining Jaime at the U.P. press conference were Congressman Will Hurd, Constellation Brands Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs Beer Division James P. Ryan, and Eagle Pass Mayor Ramsey English Cantu.

Congressman Hurd stated that he was in Eagle Pass to understand the problems of international trade between the U.S. and Mexico and how to address them in Washington D.C. so that the U.S. has a 21^st century infrastructure.

“We do need more blue shirts. We need more folks in Customs in order to move the traffic. When you look at some of the problems that you have, it’s not enough people inspecting the goods,” said Hurd.

Hurd noted the Pre-Clearance Program as part of a possible solution which could alleviate wait times to streamline border procedures. “Pre-Clearance where you clear customs at the point of origination and so, if you’re doing that it’s a lot quicker to get through the border,” added Hurd. Hurd referred to a U.S. program which pre-clears goods in Mexico and not requiring inspection at the time of crossing into the U.S. The goods are allowed to travel from Mexico, after inspected by U.S. inspectors, straight to their destination point in the U.S. without having to stop at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hurd touched upon Union Pacific’s widening and adding another rail line to their existing infrastructure in Eagle Pass and Maverick County to accommodate the significant railcar traffic now and in the future.

“Having another rail line or having more overpasses for pedestrian traffic is going to be important. That’s going to be a resource game, making sure that understanding those needs when it gets into the conversation of the limited resources is important too,” added Hurd.

“The amount of goods and services that Union Pacific is transporting across our border is only going to increase. So, we have to make sure that we’re prepared for that and that it doesn’t increase the wait times of going back and forth,” said Hurd.

“If you do this in a smart way, you can actually reduce the amount of traffic in the system. You can take trucks off the road, you can do it with less cars and that’s good for everyone. That increases where we can make a little more money, so the folks that are involved in this industry are going to be able to spend more money at restaurants here in Eagle Pass,” added Hurd.

“Our investment is on the Mexico side and is a positive impact on trade across the border and our business in the United States. We feel that it’s a great partnership as we’re taking a state of the art brewery and are more than doubling the size of that facility to supply our products across the United States. We look forward to continued growth here in Eagle Pass and trade across the border,” said Jame P. Ryan, Senior Vice-President of Constellation Brands.

Ryan stated that the Constellation Brewery in Mexico accounts for 60% of the beer product for the United States and within a year will be up to 100%.

With growth comes prosperity but also growing pains. A better understanding of how freight movement affects local and national economies can help stakeholders make more informed decisions impacted by and involving border trade including growing pains in communities that are not set up for such growth. The City of Eagle Pass and its citizens will be significantly affected and burdened by the increased railcar traffic through downtown Eagle Pass as well as incur increased risks of liability and contamination in the event of a railroad accident. There are several elementary public schools adjacent to the Union Pacific rail line and many densely populated subdivisions, raising safety and environmental issues whether the City of Eagle Pass Fire Department is equipped to handle any toxic and hazardous railroad accident or spill and who will pay for the taxpayers extra costs for training and equipping the City’s fire fighters to handle such incidents.