The Union Railroadis part of the original Lake Erie to Pittsburgh Mills rail system that hadits beginning in 1896. During 1897, the URR handled approximately 5 milliontons of freight. The tonnage increased through the years, until a peak wasreached in 1951, when an all-time high of 74,44O,776 net tons of revenuefreight were handled.

This Class III switchingrailroad is engaged in general railroad transportation and provides railroadswitching service primarily to the steel industry.In addition to steel mills,the railroad serves the coal industry through Duquesne Wharf, a world classcoke production facility at Clairton, and more than 30 other customers inthe automotive, chemical, and aggregate business. The URR currently consistsof 65 miles of main track and approximately 200 miles of yard tracks andsidings, all located within a 10-mile radius in Allegheny County, PA. Thenorthernmost point is located at North Bessemer, PA, where the railroadproceeds southward through Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh, Monongahela Junction,Clairton Junction and Clairton.

The railroad, as it existstoday, has resulted from the union of all or parts of five railroads betweenthe years 1906 and 1915. The first addition occurred in 1906 when a portionof the Pittsburgh, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad, extending from NorthBessemer to East Pittsburgh, was leased to the Union Railroad. Later in1906, the railroad leased the Monongahela Southern Railroad. The next additioninvolved the St. Clair Terminal Railroad in 1920. All three properties weresubsequently merged. The last addition occurred in 1915 with the lease oftrack from Duquesne to McKeesport via the Penn Central Bridge. The originalURR extended from East Pittsburgh to Hays, a distance of six miles, andwas constructed in the years 1894-1907. During the same period, 13 branches,with an aggregate length of 14 miles were built. Operations began on June1, 1896, with 241 employees, 25 steam locomotives and no cars. On October26, 1897, the first train was interchanged with the Pittsburgh, Bessemer& Lake Erie Railroad at East Pittsburgh. This 30-car ore train from NorthBessemer was consigned to Edgar Thomson.

ThePort Perry Bridge, across the Monongahela River, opened to traffic on June30, 1898. The Carrie Furnace bridge opened to hot metal traffic on December31, 1900 and to general traffic on June 14, 1901. A new Homestead connectionbetween Port Perry Bridge and the north end of Munhall Yard was completedand placed in operation December, 1907. This connection replaced the originalline which was located along the hillside at Green Springs.

The Monongahela Southern Railroad extended from a point underneath the streetrailway bridge on Duquesne Boulevard, Duquesne, to Mifflin Junction. Therailroad was placed in operation as it was built beginning in 1898. It wasused for the disposition of hot slag and waste materials until June 17,1906, when the first interchange of traffic occurred with the Wabash, PittsburghTerminal Railway. This railway was later known as the Pittsburgh and WestVirginia Railway, until merged with the Norfolk-Western Railway. The ClairtonBranch of the Monongahela Southern Railroad was constructed between theyears 1917- 1920. It extended from Clairton Junction (Bull Run) to a connectionwith the St. Clair Terminal Railroad in Clairton and was first opened tooperations on April 14, 1919. The St. Clair Terminal Railroad began at theconnection with the Monongahela Southern Railroad in Clairton, and extendedapproximately 4- 1/2 miles to the end of the Clairton Steel Works, and toWylie.

Major changes were madeto the "J" Tower in 1930. These changes included the additionof the north and south Legs of the Duquesne Wye, the south Leg of the HomesteadWye, and the bridge over the then Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. In 1942,the six track Port Perry Yard spanning Turtle Creek was built to improvethe availability of raw materials to Edgar Thomson Steel Works. The Highand Low Grade Viaducts were completed in 1945. Turtle Creek Viaduct, ona new alignment, was opened to trains in 1951. These structures replacedthe old viaducts which could not continue to support the ever-increasingsize and weight of equipment and capacity carloads. In 1953 and 1954, ahump-operated Classification Yard and related facilities were constructedin Duquesne. The yard extends from Clairton Junction to the south approachto the Port Perry Bridge. The related facilities consist of a 9-track ReceivingYard and an 8-track Southbound Yard. On January I, 1960, an agreement wasmade with the B&O Railroad for joint use of their Tracks No. 4, 5, and 6at Bessemer, located along the Port Perry Yard, at Union Junction, to provideadequate facilities for the delivery of ore to the dumper at Edgar ThomsonWorks. In addition, various track changes in the properties of the Union,B&O, and USS Corporation were made to further improve facilities. Majoralterations and additions were made to Duquesne Coal Dock in 1964. Coalhandling potential increased 250 tons per hour by the installation of a15 cubic yard Bucyrus Erie revolving crane, a 4,800 cu. ft. storage bin,conveyor system, retarders and barge moving equipment. In 1978, the CoalDock was further expanded to include a continuous bucket unloader.

InFebruary, 1999, the URR replaced the Bucyrus Erie Revolving Crane with thelargest bulk material crane on the Inland Waterway of the U.S. The new E-Crane,built by Indusign and Ohio Crane, will allow the Duquesne Wharf to enhanceits tradition of providing reliable, high quality services to our customersand will improve Union Railroad's ability to competively handle coal andother bulk materials well into the 21st Century.

On January 7, 1966, aconsolidated remote-controlled interlocking system was installed. This system,the first of its type in the industry, enables operating trains to makeover a CTC (Centralized Traffic Control) system, utilizing a process controlcomputer and a control machine. The control machine indicates track occupancyand train movement on a miniature track model of the entire main line. Inthis manner, all train movements are continually monitored by an operatorand train movement director. In addition to tracking existing train movements,the computer selects preferential routines for new movements and positionspower switches and signals.

In 1988, the Union Railroad became part of Transtar, Inc. Transtar is aprivately-held transportation holding company with principal operationsin railroad freight transportation, dock operations, and inland river barging. The Transtar subsidiary companies were formedover the years to meet the transportation needs of various steel makingfacilities that were the predecessors of today's United States Steel Corporation. Priorto 1988, the Transtar companies were wholly owned transportation subsidiariesof United States Steel Corporation. In December, 1988, thesetransportation companies were acquired by a new holding company, Transtar, Inc.

The Transtar companies have a long business history, more than 100 yearsin many cases. The companies provide a broad mix of specialized transportationservices by rail and water. In addition, some of the rail and water carriersown and operate bulk commodity docks and port facilities. Transtar's corebusiness is serving the transportation needs of the steel, utility, mining,and chemical industries, although other business supplements this core.