Union Pacific continues to prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Ike, currently anticipated to make landfall along the central Texas coast early Saturday morning. Hurricane Ike is impacting our operations in the Texas Gulf Coast area, as Operations personnel continue to move equipment out of the area and work with customers to secure equipment at their own facilities. With the announcement of mandatory or voluntary evacuations for several zip codes in Houston, rail operations in the affected area have been largely suspended to allow employees to safely evacuate. As a result, we are issuing this letter claiming "force majeure" under the provisions listed in UP 6600 (see attached), which is incorporated by reference in all of your contracts. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will advise when this Force Majeure condition ends and operations return to normal.
UP 6600 Item 295 - Force Majeur pdf