Nebraska Business Parks Connected to Rail Lines

[CMStPnP]

BaltACD

I have no idea if the Wal-Mart facility is being set up for rail traffic.

I doubt it.   I worked on more than one Walmart project at Bentonville (their HQ).   They have a massive trucking company, acres and acres of trailers and cabs there.   No active rail access that I could see at their distribution center in Bentonville.    Want to hear something even more humorous.    Their Corporate HQ is constructed of the same materials as they use to construct a Walmart including the paint.    In effect it resembles a very large Walmart set on a corn field.     Massive surface parking lot, about the size you would see around a Stadium as a parking garage would cost money.

They outsourced their IT to India and setup a preferred vendor agreement that only specifies Indian outsourcing companies so the consulting company I worked for eventually lost the business.    We had a great sales guy though years after they signed that exclusive vendor agreement he kept getting projects with them via sneaking around and personal relationships.   We would start a project and the Walmart employees would always ask us how in the hell we got in there as an American company with their exclusive vendor agreement.     It only lasted for about two years after the agreement was signed and it was dribs and dribble projects no longer the major projects.    Last I heard they were all Asian Indian IT contractors project managed by Walmart employees.    Their IT department is huge but geared almost entirely to mobile consultants who do the real programming via Indian outsourcing firms.   A large chunk do not even live there as residents, most fly in and stay at local hotels for the week and fly back for the weekend.    I don't know how they do that and still undercut American firms financially but they figured out how.   Others stay at extended stay places or corp apartments.

[BaltACD]

York1

I really do not know more about this than what I posted.

On many threads, I've read criticism of UP and other railroads which are not going after new business.

I really thought this might be an encouragement for a business to look at using trains rather trucks, and that this would benefit the railroad getting some new business.

Spent the week in Topeka with my son and his family as well as racing at Heartland Motorsports Park.  In recent years Mars Wrigley candy has built a factory on the West side of Topeka Boulevard across from the race track property.  Now Wal-Mart is building a distribution center to the West of the Mars Wrigley property.  The Mars Wrigley property does get service from the BNSF that parallels Topeka Boulevard through the area - I have no idea if the Wal-Mart facility is being set up for rail traffic.

[York1]

I really do not know more about this than what I posted.

On many threads, I've read criticism of UP and other railroads which are not going after new business.

I really thought this might be an encouragement for a business to look at using trains rather trucks, and that this would benefit the railroad getting some new business.

[mudchicken]

York1

 

 

Overmod

I wonder if anyone asked UP about their opinion of these?

 

 

 

I don't know the answer to that, but the article states that a location was chosen after input from UP:

"The chamber last year secured purchase options on 118 acres of land just east of Hershey chosen with input from the Union Pacific Railroad."

 

Guess where the UP western Nebraska industrial development person operates out of...

[mudchicken]

(1) In Colorado, UP will not serve attempts at industrial parks that are outside of established switching limits. More than one dumb developer has discovered this the hard way.

(2) This also may be a way to finance the construction of a main track switch that would be financially out of reach otherwise. If there is not an existing non-signalled siding or backtrack to come out of, industriaL track construction gets very expensive very quickly. Uncle Pete or any other Class 1 is not about to build a main track turnout and maintain it on speculation.

(3) Using railroads as a competitive edge against trucking industry shipping cost$ has come and gone. Railroads don't play that game anymore.

(4) If the industry won't maintain its track, the railroad does not have to serve them. (Likewise with clearances, drainage, safety issues, etc.) ....Continues to amaze me that developers, industry development groups, county /city agencies just don't get it. 

[York1]

Overmod

I wonder if anyone asked UP about their opinion of these?

 

I don't know the answer to that, but the article states that a location was chosen after input from UP:

"The chamber last year secured purchase options on 118 acres of land just east of Hershey chosen with input from the Union Pacific Railroad."

[rdamon]

They must have talked with someone in Hesperia, CA

 

 https://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20071214/NEWS/312149984

 

[Overmod]

I wonder if anyone asked UP about their opinion of these?

I'd suspect there's a great deal of Field of Dreams political optimism and assumptions that OPM is free for politicians to promise in that plan.  Actually generating the traffic that interests UP might be another matter.

Or a third-party opportunity, after nature takes its course awhile... 

[York1]

The Nebraska legislature passed the following bill:

Rail parks. The state would provide up to $50 million over 10 years to help nonmetro counties develop business parks linked to railroad lines under LB 40, introduced by Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte and passed 49-0 Wednesday.

 

 

The bill would help North Platte develop a multimillion-dollar “rail park” linked to the Union Pacific main line that runs through the city. Grants provided through LB 40 would be limited to no more than $30 million each and would require matching local funds.

 

I can't find much more than this:

https://nptelegraph.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/unicameral-votes-to-send-rail-park-bill-to-ricketts/article_7dbdb44e-b8ee-11eb-acbf-ff2339fe8c77.html