Verified
Union Pacific
Piloting- Freight rail
- 29,287 employees (2025)
- UP Chat, built in-house
- 8-10 major AI projects
- CIO reports to CEO
- No AI ROI disclosed
Union Pacific deploys AI mainly inside its operating systems: AI-built transportation plans, an AI-informed movement planner for dispatchers, AI fuel planning, machine vision that inspects track and rolling stock, and semi-autonomous intermodal cranes, plus UP Chat, an internally developed generative AI assistant for staff. EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, who reports to CEO Jim Vena, pairs technology and business leaders on AI work, and a cross-functional committee governs deployment. Union Pacific has published no AI spending, usage counts or AI-credited financial returns.
up.comTheir approach to AI
- The platform
- UP Chat, an internally developed large language model platform, gives Union Pacific staff generative AI inside the company network (2025 Building America Report, Sep 2026), and Union Pacific's AI transportation planning runs on a platform the railroad built (Jan 2025).
- The models
- Union Pacific has not named the large language models behind UP Chat, which it called its own secured version of ChatGPT in Feb 2024; the railroad names no model provider, and its AI planning models run on a Union Pacific-built platform.
- The reach
- UP Chat is available from Union Pacific company computers, but the railroad has not said how many of its roughly 29,000 employees, about 83% of them union-represented, use it.
- The catch
- Union Pacific has published no AI spending, user counts or AI-credited financial returns, and its Mar 2026 proxy describes a phased rollout built around research and decision-support uses.
Snapshot
- Employees
- 29,287 (2025 average)
- About 83% represented by 13 major rail unions (2025 Form 10-K); 28,540 average in Q3 2026
- Technology capital
- $377M (2025)
- Technology and other cash capital; no technology operating budget disclosed
- AI/ML headcount
- Not disclosed
- Union Pacific has not published the size of its Tech department or AI team
- Who owns AI
- Rahul Jalali, EVP and CIO
- Reports directly to CEO Jim Vena; pairs with business leaders on AI outcomes (Apr 2026)
- Platform
- UP Chat, built in-house
- Internally developed LLM platform inside the company network (Sep 2026)
- Models
- Not disclosed
- UP Chat runs on large language models; Union Pacific called it its own secured version of ChatGPT (Feb 2024) and names no vendor
- Reach
- Not disclosed
- UP Chat is available from company computers; no user count published
- AI in production
- Planning, dispatch, fuel, inspection, cranes
- At least eight to ten major AI projects (Apr 2026), plus demand forecasting, predictive maintenance and UP Chat
Key findings
Union Pacific bars employees from using public AI tools for business and gives them UP Chat, which it described in Feb 2024 as its own secured version of ChatGPT and in its 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026) as an internally developed large language model platform; Union Pacific logs AI usage and can audit it.
Eric Gehringer, Union Pacific's EVP of Operations, said on the Apr 23, 2026 earnings call that the railroad has at least eight to ten major AI projects in use, including an AI-informed movement planner that lays out dispatching up to 12 hours ahead and Terminal Command Center, which he called an AI tool for yard teams.
Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026) says an AI planning tool, Adaptive Planning, builds blocks, trains, schedules and resource plans and has already reduced unnecessary car handling and manual work, after a multi-phase AI transportation planning project that Katie Sanders described in Jan 2025.
EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, who reports directly to CEO Jim Vena, pairs technology and business leaders with shared accountability for AI outcomes (Apr 2026), and Union Pacific's Mar 2026 proxy statement says AI is deployed in phases under a cross-functional committee, with the board's Audit Committee overseeing AI risk.
Union Pacific spent $377 million of capital on technology and other items in 2025, up from $231 million in 2024, but has disclosed no AI spending and no financial return credited to AI as of Nov 2026.
Where Union Pacific sits
- Stage
- Piloting
Union Pacific sits at Piloting: a sanctioned generative AI assistant, UP Chat, is live on company computers, EVP of Operations Eric Gehringer counted at least eight to ten major AI projects in use in Apr 2026, including transportation planning, dispatch movement planning, terminal management, fuel planning, track and rolling-stock inspection and intermodal cranes, and a cross-functional committee and an internal AI policy govern deployment. Union Pacific falls short of Scaling because it has disclosed no UP Chat usage figures and no AI results, its count of major AI projects is short of dozens, and its Mar 2026 proxy statement describes a phased approach built around research and decision-support use cases.
How the stages are defined - Ownership
- EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, reporting to the CEO, with business co-owners
- Platform
- Hybrid: UP Chat and AI planning built in-house; AI cranes acquired
- Models
- Undisclosed large language models in UP Chat; in-house planning models
- Hosting
- UP Chat runs on Union Pacific's secured data network behind its firewall; the cloud or data center hosting the models is not disclosed
- Reach
- UP Chat on company computers; user count not disclosed
How they deploy
AI to assist people, with humans deciding
Rahul Jalali wrote in Jul 2023 that Union Pacific's AI posture is "augmenting human capabilities with machine intelligence," applied to predictive operations, customer service and field optimization, and that Union Pacific prefers to buy software rather than build it, so software vendors adding AI to their products matters. Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026) says AI may support analysis but, in certain instances, may not automate decisions without human approval, and Union Pacific's May 2026 account of Machine Vision says track inspectors weigh the system's findings and decide on repairs or slower-speed orders.
Modern core systems first
Union Pacific replaced the mainframe that had run its core logistics for more than 50 years with NetControl on Jan 6, 2024, becoming the first Class I railroad to modernize Positive Train Control, Computer-Aided Dispatch and transportation management, according to Rahul Jalali. Jalali called platforms like NetControl ripe for co-pilot technology, and Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report says NetControl supports future AI-enabled transportation planning. Jalali told CIO.com in Apr 2026 that delivering these foundational platforms positions Union Pacific for the AI era.
Two in the box
CIO.com reported in Apr 2026 that AI at Union Pacific is not owned by IT alone: Rahul Jalali pairs technology and business leaders in a two-in-the-box model with shared accountability for outcomes. Jalali said Union Pacific starts from the business problem, deploys minimally viable solutions quickly and refines them in the field, and that the biggest risk is thinking technology by itself creates value.
Value first, project by project
Eric Gehringer said on Union Pacific's Apr 23, 2026 earnings call that the railroad does not pursue AI for its own sake but ties each project to value such as removing car touches, lowering cost or improving service, and Jim Vena said AI and information tools are being applied across the company, including in the finance department. Gehringer said on the Oct 22, 2026 call that Union Pacific's technology is designed first to improve frontline leaders' decisions.
Phased deployment
Union Pacific's Mar 2026 proxy statement says the company continues to explore how best to deploy AI and analytics across the enterprise and is rolling out AI in phases, combining research and decision-support use cases with governance, transparency and auditability so it can balance risk management, compliance and workforce considerations.
AI and the Norfolk Southern merger
Rahul Jalali told CIO.com in Apr 2026 that "technology will be at the forefront of integrating the companies" if Union Pacific's merger with Norfolk Southern goes ahead. The Surface Transportation Board rejected requests to dismiss the revised merger application on Sep 22, 2026, Jim Vena wrote in Oct 2026 that the board's information gathering runs to May 28, 2027, and the companies expect to close in the second half of 2027. Eric Gehringer wrote in Sep 2026 that Union Pacific would invest an additional $2 billion in track, terminal capacity, rail yards and technology if the merger is approved.
- Deployment model
- Union Pacific runs AI from its central Tech department under EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, who reports directly to CEO Jim Vena (2025 Form 10-K), and pairs technology and business leaders with shared accountability for AI outcomes in a two-in-the-box model (Apr 2026). Operating teams apply the tools: dispatchers work with an AI-informed movement planner, network planners with AI-built transportation plans, terminal teams with Terminal Command Center, and Engineering inspectors with Machine Vision output on track geometry (Apr and May 2026). A committee of leaders from Technology, Law, Human Resources, Marketing and Sales, Safety and Supply oversees AI deployment, and an internal AI policy sets the rules for employees (Mar 2026 proxy).
- Model providers
- Union Pacific described UP Chat in Feb 2024 as its own secured version of ChatGPT, powered by large language models and built after it barred employees from using public ChatGPT for business, without naming a model vendor. Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report calls UP Chat an internally developed large language model platform and also names no model vendor. Futuriom wrote in Sep 2026 that UP Chat is fueled by ChatGPT and listed ChatGPT plus proprietary models and platforms as the railroad's AI stack. Katie Sanders wrote in Jan 2025 that the AI transportation planning model runs on a new Union Pacific-built platform. Union Pacific has not named any model provider, cloud AI service or coding assistant.
- Data and infrastructure
- Union Pacific's AI draws on systems the railroad modernized: NetControl, which takes in millions of messages a day from customers, other railroads and internal systems (Mar 2024), plus Computer-Aided Dispatch and Positive Train Control. Union Pacific's 2025 Form 10-K puts its wayside detector network at more than 7,000 devices generating 72 million data points a day and the 2025 Building America Report at more than 7,300 devices, while Union Pacific's innovation page still cites 16 million data points a day, the figure it gave in Mar 2023. UP Chat runs behind the company firewall on Union Pacific's secured data network (Feb 2024); Union Pacific has not named the cloud or data center that hosts its AI models. Customers reach shipment data through APIs and a cloud data sharing service that Union Pacific says supports customers' emerging AI capabilities (Sep 2026).
Platforms and internal tools
UP ChatBy Feb 2024
UP Chat is Union Pacific's in-house generative AI assistant, reachable from company computers, which helps employees analyze data trends, generate ideas, summarize projects, draft presentations and articles, and write code snippets. Union Pacific's Tech team built UP Chat on large language models after the railroad barred the use of public ChatGPT for business, and keeps it behind the company firewall; the 2025 Building America Report calls it a secure, internally developed large language model platform.
- Users
- Not disclosed; available from company computers
- Models
- Large language models; vendor not disclosed
Adaptive PlanningProject began by Jan 2025
Adaptive Planning uses AI to build Union Pacific's transportation plans, including blocks, trains, schedules and resource allocations, and connects planning to execution systems so plans are adjusted as conditions change. Union Pacific says the AI-powered planning models have reduced unnecessary car handling, improved network fluidity and cut manual work events (Sep 2026).
NetControlJan 6, 2024
NetControl is Union Pacific's transportation management system, which replaced a mainframe and handles rail car inventory, scheduling, waybills and train, locomotive and terminal management through thousands of APIs. Union Pacific says NetControl opens the door to AI tools built on real-time data (Aug 2025) and supports future AI-enabled transportation planning (Sep 2026).
Terminal Command CenterBy Mar 2024
Terminal Command Center gives Union Pacific terminal managers a live view of terminals across the 23-state network and delivers prompts and alerts for decisions. Eric Gehringer called Terminal Command Center an AI tool in Apr 2026 that lets yard teams forecast and head off switching problems, and Steven Bybee wrote in Aug 2025 that Union Pacific was integrating intelligent planners into the platform and would soon deploy a Dynamic Bowl Optimizer to adjust yard track use automatically.
Machine Vision track inspectionBy May 2026
Machine Vision combines high-resolution cameras, sensors and AI-powered software to analyze Union Pacific's track geometry data and spot changing track conditions, including some not yet detectable to the human eye, so inspectors can prioritize repairs. Union Pacific's geometry systems covered more than 644,000 track miles in 2025.
Vendors and partners
Norfolk SouthernJul 2025
Pending merger partner · Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern signed their merger agreement on Jul 28, 2025. Eric Gehringer said on Oct 22, 2026 that Norfolk Southern's wayside inspection technology identifies rolling-stock defects better than Union Pacific's own system; the merger awaits Surface Transportation Board approval.
Leadership
AI, data and platform leaders
Executives
AI org map
Central Tech department under a CIO who reports to the CEO; AI efforts co-owned with business leaders
Union Pacific's EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali reports directly to CEO Jim Vena, according to the 2025 Form 10-K, and leads the Tech department, which builds UP Chat, NetControl and the AI planning platform and, through the CISO, runs cybersecurity. Union Pacific pairs Tech leaders with business leaders in a two-in-the-box model for AI outcomes (Apr 2026), and a cross-functional committee oversees AI deployment while the board's Audit Committee oversees AI risk (Mar 2026 proxy).
Union Pacific has not published the size of its Tech department or the number of data scientists and AI engineers it employs. Union Pacific's AI work sits mainly in the Tech department under EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, which has included Operations Technology and Enterprise and Commercial Tech groups, and in operating teams that apply the tools, such as dispatching, Engineering's track geometry group, network planning and the terminals, out of an average workforce of 29,287 in 2025.
Reporting lines
Chief Executive Officer
Jim Vena
Tech department
Rahul Jalali, EVP and CIO
The CIO reports directly to the CEO (2025 Form 10-K)
Operations Technology
Katie Sanders, AVP (Jan 2025)
AI transportation planning; reporting line inferred from the team's name, not published
Enterprise and Commercial Tech
Rushi Patel, AVP (Jun 2025)
Reporting line inferred from the title, not published
Information security
An assistant vice president and CISO reports to the CIO (2025 Form 10-K)
Southern Region Operations
Steven Bybee, SVP (Aug 2025)
Marketing and Sales
Kenny Rocker, EVP
Board Audit Committee
Oversees risks from AI, cybersecurity and data privacy, among others (Mar 2026 proxy)
AI governance committee
Cross-functional leaders from Technology, Law, Human Resources, Marketing and Sales, Safety and Supply; chair and reporting line not disclosed (Mar 2026 proxy)
Union Pacific's 2025 Form 10-K states that the CIO reports directly to the CEO and the CISO to the CIO. The lines from the EVPs of Operations and of Marketing and Sales to the CEO, and from the Operations Technology and Enterprise and Commercial Tech groups to the CIO, are inferred from titles and Union Pacific's leadership page, not published.
Where the AI workforce sits
Tech department: UP Chat, NetControl, the AI planning platform and security
Union Pacific has not published how many technologists, data scientists or AI engineers it employs.
Not disclosedOperating teams that apply AI: dispatching, network planning, Engineering track geometry, terminals and fuel
Union Pacific describes these teams as users of AI tools built with Tech; no AI headcount is given.
Not disclosed
Named people
Use cases
Union Pacific has not published a full list of its AI use cases; Eric Gehringer said on the Apr 2026 earnings call that the railroad has at least eight to ten major AI projects in use. Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026), earnings calls and company articles describe AI in transportation planning, dispatch movement planning, terminal management, fuel planning, demand forecasting and routing, predictive maintenance, track and rolling-stock inspection, semi-autonomous intermodal cranes and UP Chat, an in-house generative AI assistant. Union Pacific has reported no business-level return for any of these AI uses and no firm-level AI return; it says AI planning has reduced car handling and manual work and that AI-driven fuel planning lowers costs, without figures.
| Use case | Area | Status | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI transportation planning (Adaptive Planning) Adaptive Planning uses AI to build Union Pacific's blocks, trains, schedules and resource allocations and to adjust plans for weather, maintenance and service disruptions, with feedback from execution systems such as NetControl. | Network planning | In production | |
| AI-informed movement planner Union Pacific's dispatching center uses an automated movement planner, informed by AI and still evolving, that supports dispatchers in real time and lays out the railroad up to 12 hours ahead, according to Eric Gehringer in Apr 2026. | Dispatching | In production | |
| Terminal Command Center Terminal Command Center gives Union Pacific yard teams a forecast of their terminals so they can spot switching problems and plan car moves hours ahead; Eric Gehringer called it an AI tool in Apr 2026, and Union Pacific was adding intelligent planners and planning a Dynamic Bowl Optimizer as of Aug 2025. | Terminals | In production | |
| Mobile NX terminal automation Eric Gehringer said in Apr 2026 that Mobile NX automates part of Union Pacific's terminal work and has some AI components. | Terminals | In production | |
| AI-driven fuel planning Union Pacific combines process changes, technology insights and AI-driven fuel planning to reduce fuel burn and idle time and to shift fueling to lower-cost locations. | Operations | In production | |
| Demand forecasting and routing Union Pacific uses AI and machine learning to anticipate customer demand and optimize routing, according to its 2025 Building America Report. | Marketing and network planning | In production | |
| Predictive maintenance Union Pacific uses AI and machine learning to predict maintenance needs and improve asset reliability, according to its 2025 Building America Report. | Engineering and Mechanical | In production | |
| Machine Vision track inspection Machine Vision analyzes track geometry data with AI-powered software to find changing alignment, elevation, curvature and surface conditions; Union Pacific inspectors use its GPS coordinates in daily inspections and decide on repairs or slower-speed orders themselves. | Engineering | In production | |
| Wayside machine vision for rolling stock Machine vision systems in Union Pacific's wayside detector network capture images of passing freight cars and locomotives that are analyzed with machine learning and AI to flag defective components, as described in Mar 2023. | Mechanical | In production | |
| AI-equipped widespan cranes Five widespan cranes in use outside Chicago integrate AI to load and unload intermodal containers onto trucks semi-autonomously; Union Pacific said in 2021 that it had acquired the cranes for its Global IV terminal in Joliet, Illinois, and that a remote operator would supervise the final lowering onto the truck. | Intermodal | In production | |
| UP Chat UP Chat lets Union Pacific employees analyze data, draft presentations, articles and summaries, and generate code snippets inside the company network, under rules that bar automated decisions and legal, medical or financial advice. | Firmwide | In production | |
| Machine vision obstacle detection on locomotives Union Pacific is developing machine vision that detects people, vehicles or obstacles on the track and could automatically trigger a stop, building on camera-based point protection demonstrated on locomotives at a yard in Livonia, Louisiana (Nov 2025). | Safety | Announced |
Adoption
Union Pacific's disclosed AI sits mostly in operating systems: machine learning in wayside machine vision by Mar 2023, AI-equipped intermodal cranes acquired in 2021, UP Chat for staff by Feb 2024, an AI transportation planning project from Jan 2025, and an AI-informed dispatch movement planner, Terminal Command Center, AI fuel planning and Machine Vision track inspection by 2026; Eric Gehringer counted at least eight to ten major AI projects in Apr 2026. Union Pacific has not published how many employees use UP Chat or any other AI tool. About 83% of Union Pacific's workforce is represented by 13 major rail unions, and the railroad has not said whether train crews and field staff reach AI tools on the handheld devices they use for work.
By the numbers
Rollout, first pilot to today
Sep 2021
Union Pacific acquired five widespan cranes integrated with AI for its Global IV intermodal terminal in Joliet, Illinois, with testing planned for 2022.
Mar 2023
Union Pacific said machine vision systems in its wayside detector network analyze images of rolling stock with machine learning and AI to flag defective components.
Jun 2023
Rahul Jalali, CIO since Nov 2020, became Union Pacific's executive vice president and chief information officer.
Jul 2023
Rahul Jalali set out Union Pacific's AI posture of augmenting human capabilities with machine intelligence in operations, customer service and the field.
Jan 2024
Union Pacific cut over to NetControl on Jan 6, 2024, replacing its transportation mainframe with the platform it now describes as supporting AI-enabled planning.
Feb 2024
Union Pacific described UP Chat, its own secured version of ChatGPT, and its ban on employees using public ChatGPT for business.
Jan 2025
Katie Sanders said Union Pacific had started a multi-phase project pairing AI with a Union Pacific-built platform to create dynamic transportation plans.
Aug 2025
Steven Bybee said Union Pacific was integrating intelligent planners into Terminal Command Center and testing camera-based technologies in its terminals.
Mar 2026
Union Pacific's proxy statement described a phased AI rollout, a cross-functional AI governance committee and an internal AI policy.
Apr 2026
Eric Gehringer said Union Pacific had at least eight to ten major AI projects in use, including an AI-informed movement planner in dispatching and Terminal Command Center.
May 2026
Union Pacific said inspectors use AI-powered Machine Vision in daily track inspections; its geometry systems inspected more than 644,000 miles of track in 2025.
Sep 2026
Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report described Adaptive Planning, AI-driven fuel planning, UP Chat and its AI usage rules, including logging and audit of AI use.
Economics & controls
Spend and ROI
Technology spending
Union Pacific does not disclose a technology operating budget. Union Pacific's 2025 Form 10-K reports $377 million of cash capital for technology and other items in 2025, up from $231 million in 2024 and $310 million in 2023, out of $3.79 billion of total cash capital investments, and a 2026 capital plan of about $3.3 billion.
What AI itself costs
Union Pacific has not disclosed what it spends on AI, on model or token usage, or on UP Chat. Eric Gehringer wrote in Sep 2026 that Union Pacific would invest an additional $2 billion in track, terminal capacity, rail yards and technology if the Norfolk Southern merger is approved, without a separate AI figure.
Reported ROI
Union Pacific has reported no financial return credited to AI. The 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026) says AI-powered planning models have reduced unnecessary car handling, improved network fluidity and minimized manual work events, and that AI-driven fuel planning lowers costs, without figures; Katie Sanders wrote in Jan 2025 that the planning model was removing thousands of unnecessary car touches, and Eric Gehringer said in Apr 2026 that Union Pacific judges AI projects on removing car touches, cost and service, without giving results.
Productivity and headcount
Union Pacific's average workforce fell 3% to 29,287 in 2025, and train, engine and yard force levels fell 3% on 1% more carloads, which the 2025 Form 10-K credits to improved network fluidity, not to AI. Union Pacific reported record workforce productivity of 1,219 car miles per employee in Q3 2026, up 5%, with average headcount down 1% to 28,540 on 6% more volume, and credits operating discipline rather than AI. Jim Vena wrote in Oct 2026 that every unionized employee at the time of the merger will have a job under the same contract for life, and that growth will require more people on the railroad.
Governance and risk
Committee and phased rollout
Union Pacific's Mar 2026 proxy statement says a committee of leaders from Technology, Law, Human Resources, Marketing and Sales, Safety and Supply oversees AI deployment, that AI is rolled out in phases with governance, transparency and auditability mechanisms, and that an internal AI policy is designed to promote responsible use across the workforce.
Board oversight
Union Pacific's board has delegated primary oversight of risks from AI, along with cybersecurity, data privacy, climate and financial controls, to its Audit Committee, according to the Mar 2026 proxy statement and the 2025 Building America Report.
Rules for employees
Union Pacific prohibits employees from using public AI tools for business or sharing confidential information with them, requires human review of AI output, restricts AI to legitimate internal business purposes, bars it from legal, medical or financial advice, and says AI may not, in certain instances, automate decisions without human approval (2025 Building America Report, Sep 2026). Union Pacific logs AI usage and keeps the ability to audit it.
Safety-critical automation under the FRA
Union Pacific tests train automation under Federal Railroad Administration oversight: Eric Gehringer said in Jul 2026 that Integrated Train Operations, which combines long-proven technologies into a coordinated system, had logged more than 30,000 hours of lab and field testing, and Union Pacific is seeking phased testing in revenue service. Union Pacific does not describe Integrated Train Operations as AI.
Cyber risk
Union Pacific's 2025 Form 10-K warns that AI may make cyberattacks more sophisticated and incidents harder to detect and contain. The CIO and an assistant vice president and CISO lead Union Pacific's internal cybersecurity team, and the Audit Committee receives cybersecurity updates from them; Rahul Jalali was appointed to CISA's Cybersecurity Advisory Committee in 2023.
Recent signals
Oct 22, 2026
Eric Gehringer said on Union Pacific's Q3 2026 call that its technology is designed first to improve frontline leaders' decisions, citing semi-autonomous work in terminals and on engineering gangs, as CFO Jennifer Hamann reported average headcount down 1% on 6% volume growth.
Oct 21, 2026
Union Pacific reported on a Tips, Tools & Technology Day in Omaha where customers discussed AI applications, data sharing, shipment visibility and merger integration planning, quoting Kenny Rocker.
Oct 16, 2026
Union Pacific said CFO Jennifer Hamann will retire in early 2027 after 35 years with the company and that it will announce succession plans later.
Sep 28, 2026
Union Pacific said organizations of all sizes had adopted its cloud data sharing service for current and historical shipment data, which supports customers' reporting, integrations and emerging AI capabilities.
Sep 22, 2026
The Surface Transportation Board unanimously rejected requests to dismiss the revised Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger application; the companies expect to close in the second half of 2027.
Sep 22, 2026
Futuriom published an enterprise AI profile of Union Pacific citing UP Chat, NetControl, AI-assisted drone inspections and track geometry analysis, and listing ChatGPT and proprietary models.
Sep 2026
Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report described Adaptive Planning, AI-driven fuel planning and UP Chat, and set out AI rules including human review, a ban on public AI tools and logging of AI use.
May 22, 2026
Union Pacific said track inspectors use AI-powered Machine Vision daily and that its geometry systems inspected more than 644,000 miles of track and produced more than 100 billion measurements in 2025.
Apr 23, 2026
Eric Gehringer said on Union Pacific's Q1 2026 call that the railroad has at least eight to ten major AI projects in use, including an AI-informed dispatch movement planner, and Jim Vena said AI tools are reaching the finance department.
Apr 15, 2026
Rahul Jalali told CIO.com that Union Pacific pairs technology and business leaders with shared accountability for AI outcomes and that technology will be at the forefront of integrating with Norfolk Southern.
Mar 25, 2026
Union Pacific's proxy statement described its phased AI deployment, a cross-functional AI governance committee and Audit Committee oversight of AI risk.
Feb 6, 2026
Union Pacific's 2025 Form 10-K reported $377 million of technology and other capital spending in 2025, up from $231 million, and warned that AI may make cyberattacks harder to detect.
Nov 25, 2025
Union Pacific said it is developing machine vision that detects people, vehicles or obstacles on the track and could trigger a stop, and is adding collision avoidance to locomotives and track equipment.
Quick answers
- How does Union Pacific deploy AI?
- Union Pacific deploys AI mainly inside its operating systems: AI-built transportation plans, an AI-informed movement planner for dispatchers, AI fuel planning, machine vision that inspects track and rolling stock, and semi-autonomous intermodal cranes, plus UP Chat, an internally developed generative AI assistant for staff. EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, who reports to CEO Jim Vena, pairs technology and business leaders on AI work, and a cross-functional committee governs deployment. Union Pacific has published no AI spending, usage counts or AI-credited financial returns.
- What does Union Pacific use AI for?
- Union Pacific has not published a full list of its AI use cases; Eric Gehringer said on the Apr 2026 earnings call that the railroad has at least eight to ten major AI projects in use. Union Pacific's 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026), earnings calls and company articles describe AI in transportation planning, dispatch movement planning, terminal management, fuel planning, demand forecasting and routing, predictive maintenance, track and rolling-stock inspection, semi-autonomous intermodal cranes and UP Chat, an in-house generative AI assistant. Union Pacific has reported no business-level return for any of these AI uses and no firm-level AI return; it says AI planning has reduced car handling and manual work and that AI-driven fuel planning lowers costs, without figures.
- Who leads AI at Union Pacific?
- AI at Union Pacific is led by Rahul Jalali (Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer); Katie Sanders (Assistant Vice President, Operations Technology (Jan 2025)); Rushi Patel (Assistant Vice President, Enterprise and Commercial Tech (Jun 2025)). Ownership of AI on the org chart: EVP and CIO Rahul Jalali, reporting to the CEO, with business co-owners.
- What AI platform does Union Pacific use?
- UP Chat, an internally developed large language model platform, gives Union Pacific staff generative AI inside the company network (2025 Building America Report, Sep 2026), and Union Pacific's AI transportation planning runs on a platform the railroad built (Jan 2025).
- Which AI models does Union Pacific use?
- Union Pacific has not named the large language models behind UP Chat, which it called its own secured version of ChatGPT in Feb 2024; the railroad names no model provider, and its AI planning models run on a Union Pacific-built platform.
- How many Union Pacific employees use AI?
- UP Chat is available from Union Pacific company computers, but the railroad has not said how many of its roughly 29,000 employees, about 83% of them union-represented, use it.
- How far has AI spread at Union Pacific?
- Union Pacific sits at Piloting: a sanctioned generative AI assistant, UP Chat, is live on company computers, EVP of Operations Eric Gehringer counted at least eight to ten major AI projects in use in Apr 2026, including transportation planning, dispatch movement planning, terminal management, fuel planning, track and rolling-stock inspection and intermodal cranes, and a cross-functional committee and an internal AI policy govern deployment. Union Pacific falls short of Scaling because it has disclosed no UP Chat usage figures and no AI results, its count of major AI projects is short of dozens, and its Mar 2026 proxy statement describes a phased approach built around research and decision-support use cases.
Open questions
- How many Union Pacific employees use UP Chat, and do train crews and field staff have any AI tool on the handheld devices they use for work?
- Which large language models power UP Chat, who hosts them, and has Union Pacific added model providers since Feb 2024?
- Which are the eight to ten major AI projects Eric Gehringer counted in Apr 2026, and what has each returned?
- Is the AI-informed movement planner Gehringer described in Apr 2026 the OptRail Advanced Movement Planner that Union Pacific put into its dispatching system in 2021?
- What has AI-built transportation planning saved Union Pacific in crew, locomotive, car or fuel cost, given that it reports fewer car touches but no dollar figure?
- How much of Union Pacific's $377 million of technology and other capital in 2025 went to AI, and what does AI cost in operating expense?
- How many data scientists and AI engineers does Union Pacific employ, and how large is its Tech department?
- Who chairs Union Pacific's cross-functional AI governance committee, and to whom does it report?
- What business return do Union Pacific's deployed AI uses with no published figures deliver, such as the movement planner, Terminal Command Center, Machine Vision track inspection, wayside machine vision, AI fuel planning, demand forecasting and the cranes?
- Did the autonomous drones that Union Pacific was exploring in Jul 2024 to find broken rails reach service, and do its drones use AI analysis as Futuriom reported in Sep 2026?
- When will machine vision obstacle detection on Union Pacific locomotives enter service, and under what FRA approval?
- How will Union Pacific combine its AI and planning systems with Norfolk Southern's if the Surface Transportation Board approves the merger?
Sources
Union Pacific
- Executive profiles
- Technology Helps Keep Union Pacific Moving (innovation page, checked Nov 2026)
- 2025 Building America Report (Sep 2026)
- Union Pacific's AI Chat gives employees a tool to save time (Feb 5, 2024)
- Rahul Jalali: The advent of AI in the transportation industry (Jul 21, 2023)
- Rahul Jalali named executive vice president (May 18, 2023)
- Rahul Jalali: NetControl positions Union Pacific as a technology trailblazer (Mar 18, 2024)
- NetControl team honored (Aug 19, 2025)
- Katie Sanders: The next frontier in predictive, proactive railroading (Jan 28, 2025)
- Steven Bybee: How Union Pacific's real-time tech is powering rail growth (Aug 20, 2025)
- Customer technology webinar (Jun 9, 2025)
- AI-powered Machine Vision is enhancing how Union Pacific inspects track (May 22, 2026)
- Derailment prevention and wayside detectors (Mar 1, 2023)
- Union Pacific testing autonomous cranes (Sep 30, 2021)
- Point protection technology (Nov 25, 2025)
- Union Pacific drones support safe operations (Jul 1, 2024)
- Integrated Train Operations (Jul 1, 2026)
- A more connected customer experience through technology (Sep 28, 2026)
- Union Pacific brings customers together to shape the future customer experience (Oct 21, 2026)
- Eric Gehringer on the Norfolk Southern merger (Sep 3, 2026)
- STB rejects requests to dismiss the merger application (Sep 22, 2026)
- Jim Vena, third-quarter letter to employees (Oct 22, 2026)
Filings and investor materials
- Union Pacific 2025 Form 10-K (filed Feb 6, 2026)
- Union Pacific 2026 proxy statement (filed Mar 25, 2026)
- Third quarter 2026 results, Form 8-K exhibit (Oct 22, 2026)
- Q3 2026 earnings call transcript, The Motley Fool (Oct 22, 2026)
- Q1 2026 earnings call transcript, Benzinga via Webull (Apr 23, 2026)
- Form 8-K exhibit naming Rick Holmes CISO (Jul 26, 2018)
Data confidence
- Confirmed
- Stated in a primary or reputable public source.
- Estimated
- Derived or approximated from public reporting.
- Unconfirmed
- Reported, but not yet corroborated.
Union Pacific profile · Enterprise AI diffusion report by Imagine · facts checked against their sources on Nov 1, 2026
