Just like in former days, the parking lot at the packing plant on Tama’s east side was a busy place recently. But this time the closed plants parking lot held vehicles belonging to Union Pacific Railroad and its employees who are making trtack safety improvements in Iowa. News-Herald/John Speer

Union Pacific Railroad is enhancing Iowa’s transportation infrastructure by investing nearly $14 million in the rail line that runs between Grand Mound and Boone. The project is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by mid November.

The project includes replacing nearly 80,000 ties, spreading 44,800 tons of rock ballast to help provide a more stable roadbed, renewing the surfaces at 84 road crossings and replacing a total of two and one-half miles of rail in various curves.

Union Pacific plans to invest $3.6 billion in its rail network during 2012, supporting America’s current and future freight transportation needs and enhancing the safety and efficiency of the railroad’s 32,000-mile network.

Union Pacific’s capital and maintenance program exceeds infrastructure spending of the state highway departments in 46 states. These are private investments, not taxpayer dollars.

Improved and additional rail capacity benefits everyone. It allows freight rail service to grow, contributing to a cleaner environment. Union Pacific can move one ton of freight nearly 500 miles on a single gallon of diesel fuel, and, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, freight trains are nearly four times more fuel efficient than trucks. Motorists also benefit from reduced congestion on highways as a single Union Pacific train can remove up to 300 trucks off our roads.