Authorities say two Union Pacific employees were killed and three people were injured when a freight train collided with a tractor-trailer and derailed in a small West Texas city.

Following the tragic death of Sergio Ivan Rodriguez, a Milby High School student struck by a train near Broadway Street, Union Pacific and Houston city officials, including Mayor John Whitmire, are implementing immediate safety measures

Sergio Rodriguez, a Milby High School student, was tragically struck and killed by a train while attempting to cross the railroad tracks near his school. His death has reignited long-standing concerns about the safety of students navigating these hazardous crossings.

HISD officials acknowledged that 118 of the district's 274 schools are near railroad crossings. Nine of those have particularly hazardous conditions, with Milby High School being one of the most at-risk campuses.

Here is a list of just a few events, where loved ones and community leaders will gather to honor Sergio Rodriguez, who was tragically killed by a train while walking to Milby High School.

Union Pacific’s third-quarter profit grew 9% as West Coast imports surged and drove the railroad’s total volume up 6%.

A man is dead after he was struck by a train Monday morning in Houston’s Fifth Ward, according to the Houston Police Department.

A new report says the U.S. has seen an increase in the number of a certain kind of derailment related to the forces created when railcars push and pull against each other as freight trains have gotten longer.

Dispatching errors and the failure of two backup systems allowed a Union Pacific train to slam into 74 railcars that had been parked on a side track for nine months in Southern California in 2022.

As part of the Heartland of America Tour, Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 will be coming to Texas with multiple stops, including three in Southeast Texas.

The union that represents train engineers says Union Pacific is holding back on its promises to make their schedules more predictable.

Union Pacific delivered 7% growth in its second-quarter profit even though the number of shipments it hauled remained essentially flat because it was able to continue streamlining its operations.

Crews from Union Pacific have started another round of testing in Houston’s Fifth Ward to determine whether or not the area contains dangerous chemicals for its residents.

Union Pacific has begun the process of testing soil surrounding the former Houston Wood Preserving site in Fifth Ward.

KPRC 2 has been covering the cancer clusters in the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens area extensively over the past few years. We will also have the opportunity Thursday to watch crews sample the soil at Boyce Dorian Park and speak with a project manager to learn how the process works.

Officials say due to a "considerable amount of debris" caused by the deadly windstorm, testing soil samples in the Fifth Ward Cancer Cluster could be complicated and therefore have been postponed.

In recent months, environmental investigators have been on the hunt for toxic chemicals with robotic rovers in the long-standing communities of the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens.

Union Pacific's first-quarter profit crept 1% higher and topped Wall Street expectations as the railroad tightened up on expenses even though it delivered slightly less freight.

Authorities are picking up pieces of a vehicle left abandoned on the train tracks near the University of Houston - Downtown overnight.

The latest rail layoffs this week, combined with an investment fund's ongoing campaign for control of Norfolk Southern, are renewing concerns among unions and regulators about all the cuts hurting safety and service.

Soil samples were being collected by a private company in a community inside the Fifth Ward where residents have been claiming the earth is contaminated, resulting in illnesses including cancer.

Union Pacific's fourth-quarter profit crept up 1% as the railroad delivered more fertilizer, imported goods and chemicals.

The federal government has closed railroad crossings in two Texas border towns, raising concerns about the potential impact on cross-border trade.

The cancer cluster in Houston’s Fifth ward affecting hundreds of families is something we discuss all the time in our newsroom.

Federal inspectors have twice found hundreds of defects in the locomotives and railcars Union Pacific was using at the world’s largest railyard in Nebraska, but none of those seem to explain why a shipping container filled with toxic acid exploded there this fall.

Union Pacific's third-quarter profit fell 19% as the railroad hauled about 3% fewer shipments and costs remained high, but the average speed of its trains improved 5% as new CEO Jim Vena began to tweak the operations.

The federal government has joined 21 former rail workers in suing Union Pacific over the way it used a vision test to disqualify workers the railroad believed were color blind and might have trouble reading signals telling them to stop a train.

Councilmember Letitia Plummer is sharing the reason why she delayed a vote on creating the ‘Fifth Ward Voluntary Relocation Fund.’

Last year, the Houston Health Department said it found cancer-causing chemicals in the soil around the Union Pacific Railroad yard. The soil contained dioxin, a highly toxic chemical compound associated with cancer and other severe health risks.

Investigators say a blast that prompted evacuations near Union Pacific's massive railyard in western Nebraska last week appears to be accidental.

Nebraska authorities don't expect any lingering problems related to Thursday's explosion of a railroad shipping container carrying an acid used to make explosives because the chemical largely burned off and any residue was contained.

An explosion inside a shipping container at the world's largest railyard prompted evacuations in western Nebraska Thursday because of the toxic smoke generated when one of the chemicals aboard caught fire.

Union Pacific's new CEO came into the job last month with a reputation for cost-cutting.

Union Pacific has hired the CEO candidate favored by a hedge fund that's been pressuring the railroad to improve.

The railroad industry has sued to block new environmental rules in California.

Engineers who operate trains for Union Pacific will soon have much more predictable schedules that will allow them to plan when they are going to be off.

Khambrel Marshall spoke to officials about the cancer cluster in Firth Ward reportedly caused by creosote and about a summit held to obtain answers for the community.

Three major freight railroads are responding to the recent Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger.

Union Pacific has become the second major freight railroad in the past week to back away from the industry's longstanding push to cut train crews down to one person as lawmakers and regulators increasingly focus on rail safety following last month's fiery derailment in Ohio.

A woman who was left severely injured and disfigured after being struck by a train in downtown Houston in 2016 has been awarded more than $500 million by a jury.

Union Pacific has announced plans to replace its CEO later this year after a hedge fund that holds a $1.6 billion stake in the railroad went public with its concerns about his leadership.

Union Pacific’s latest attempt to move toward cutting its train crews down to one person remains on hold.

IN THIS EPISODE:

The major freight railroads now face pressure from investors to add sick days after Congress declined to require them as part of the contracts they imposed last week to avert a potentially devastating nationwide rail strike.

The Houston Health Department said Friday that surface soil samples collected in July around the contaminated Union Pacific rail yard and tested by the department contain dioxin, a highly toxic chemical compound associated with cancer and other severe health risks.

If railroad companies and workers can’t resolve their dispute by Thursday night, the country could see its first railroad strike in 30 years.

The City of Houston, Harris County, and nonprofit Bayou City Initiative have started negotiations with Union Pacific related to its remediation plan for the creosote contamination at the Houston Wood Preserving Works Site (HWPW) impacting the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods.

Union Pacific has already lost three lawsuits over the way it removes employees with health conditions because of safety concerns, and the prospect of hundreds more lawsuits looms over the railroad.

Tuesday’s announcement that both Harris County and the city of Houston each plan to pursue legal action against Union Pacific Railroad over long-standing contamination in Houston’s Fifth Ward was welcome news among residents who have long fought for accountability.

Ever since the first Fifth Ward cancer cluster was confirmed by the state department of health in 2019, numerous city and state elected officials have shown up to meetings declaring support for residents and promising to hold Union Pacific accountable for the decades-long contamination at its nearby rail yard.

A major fertilizer company says the limits Union Pacific is putting on rail traffic to clear up congestion will delay shipments that farmers rely on during the spring planting season.

Union Pacific hauled in 24% more profit in the fourth quarter even though supply chain problems and weak auto production continued to slow shipments because last year's results were weighed down by a one-time $278 million charge.

Crews are making railroad repair in Los Angeles after a train derailed near the location where thieves have been raiding cargo containers, leaving the tracks littered with empted boxes of packaged goods sent by retailers.

Thieves have been raiding cargo containers aboard trains nearing downtown Los Angeles for months, leaving the tracks blanketed with discarded packages.

The major freight railroads across North America continue to experiment with alternative locomotive fuels as a way to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Another major railroad has gone to court to determine whether it has the authority to require all its employees to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.

A Houston woman filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Union Pacific Railroad and the City of Houston over her nephew’s death from leukemia.

Union Pacific Hazardous Materials teams are reportedly responding to a train derailment in Smithville, which is in Bastrop County.

Big Boy No. 4014, a Union Pacific steam locomotive built in the 1940s to conquer mountains while carrying equipment in support of World War II, is embarking on a 10-state tour and will be on public display Tuesday in Houston.

Officials are investigating after a train hit a truck in the River Oaks District on Wednesday.

Have we hit the moment when the ‘Be Somebody’ sign will be a beloved memory of the past? Maybe.

A town hall meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening to discuss questions and lawsuits related to contamination concerns in Houston’s 5th Ward and Kashmere Gardens.

Several major unions say the significant staff cuts railroads have made in recent years could jeopardize safety, but the major railroads say the new operating model they have adopted is simply helping them become more efficient and hasn’t made the railroads riskier.

FILE- In this July 31, 2018, file photo a Union Pacific train travels through Union, Neb. – A federal judge has ruled that the details of conversations between the nation's four largest railroads should be included in lawsuits challenging billions of dollars of charges the railroads imposed in the past. The lawsuits say the railroads conspired to boost prices starting in 2003 by imposing coordinated fuel surcharges and pocketing billions of dollars in profits. In the lawsuits, the railroads have argued that their fuel surcharges were legal and were simply designed to recover the skyrocketing cost of fuel at the time. Union Pacific, which is based in Omaha, Nebraska, plans to continue “vigorously defending itself against the allegations in these lawsuits,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Graham said.

In 2020, a state health and human services report found higher rates of lung, esophagus and throat cancer among adults in the area. Now, a new report released earlier in January shows children sickened with Leukemia at nearly five times the expected rate. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is calling on Union Pacific and state agencies to get involved and care for these families. Both cancer clusters are near legacy creosote contamination at a facility now owned by Union Pacific. “I am requesting that Union Pacific help to relocate affected residents and create a buffer between contaminated areas and homes in the neighborhood.

– Union Pacific's profit and revenue slumped by double digits, though the volume of shipments it handled rebounded from the previous quarter as the economy emerged from the worst of the virus-related shutdowns earlier this year. The railroad earned $1.36 billion, or $2.01 per share in the third quarter, down 12% from $1.56 billion, or $2.22 per share, a year ago. Shares of Union Pacific Corp. dipped more than 6% Thursday. Union Pacific cut its expenses 12% to $2.89 billion during the quarter. Volume is up 4% so far in the fourth quarter, and Union Pacific expects that to end up in the low single-digit percentage range.

HOUSTON – A report conducted by the Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed a cancer cluster in northeast Houston. Significantly higher than normal diagnoses of the deadly disease were found among residents of the Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens neighborhoods, the study confirmed. The report analyzed data from the Texas Cancer Registry over a 17-year period, from 2000 to 2016. “Our neighborhood is contaminated from Union Pacific,” Edwards insisted. Cantu represents Impact Fifth Ward and its push for answers about creosote cleanup and cancer.