Union Pacific (UP) announced Oct. 2 it will proceed with plans for a new rail yard in Robertson County, Texas, near Hearne.

“This rail facility will connect the largest and fastest growing Texas markets to the state’s existing freight transportation infrastructure,” said Brenda Mainwaring, UP’s vice president of public affairs. “The development of this project will create more than 1,400 construction jobs over a two-year period. We estimate 200 permanent jobs will be needed to operate the site once it is completed. At full operation, this yard is also expected to contribute an additional 184 indirect regional jobs.”

The planned facility is known as a classification yard. It will sort rail cars by destination on separate tracks from inbound trains to create multiple outbound trains. The outbound trains will be fueled and inspected by a mechanical crew at the facility before departing to local and regional destinations.

Seven different UP rail lines meet in southern Robertson County, connecting the markets of Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, the Gulf Coast and the rest of East Texas.