Ground transportationCBP, railroad settles smuggling dispute

Union Pacific reaches agreement with CBP // Source: treccani.it

Smugglers use trains which go from Mexico to the United States to smuggle drugs and other contraband. I the last few years, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) has imposed fines totaling millions of dollars on Union Pacific Railroads for carrying the smuggled goods – even though UP maintained it knew nothing about the illegal shipments.

Bloomber reports that last week, CPB and UP signed an agreement to resolve disputed penalties assessed because of the contraband found on the company’s trains. The agreement also called for launching a program designed to improve rail transportation security between the United States and Mexico.

CBP and UP disagreed whether federal law authorizes the federal agency to issue such penalties. Last week’s agreement addresses past and future penalties, except those involved in an ongoing Nebraska lawsuit, according to UP.

UP launched a lawsuit challenging nearly $38 million in penalties assessed by CBP, and that lawsuit is awaiting a decision in the U.S. District Court in Nebraska. CPB and UP officials agreed the lawsuit should continue to clarify whether the penalties are authorized by federal laws for the long term.

The two sides also agreed to enhance rail security along the U.S.-Mexico border:

• A program called “21st Century Bi-National Secure Border Corridor” will expand cooperative partnerships among the U.S. and Mexican governments, railroads that operate at and cross the border, and other stakeholders
• UP agreed to invest $50 million to enhance border security efforts and improve supply-chain security by deploying technologies such as intelligent video scanning, global positioning systems and radio frequency identification tracking of rail movements

The agreement cancelled more than $500 million in civil penalties that CBP has assessed or might assert against UP for previous drug discoveries, and the railroad will not pay fines or penalties for those drug discoveries.

“We are pleased that we have reached a resolution that allows Union Pacific to expand our long-standing relationship with CBP, in which Union Pacific has already invested tens of millions of dollars in technology, infrastructure, training and workforce resources to promote safer and more secure rail transportation across the border,” said UP chairman, president and CEO Jim Young.