Rahul Jalali on infrastructure
From How Union Pacific’s CIO is Modernizing the 160-Year-Old Railroad | Technovation 682 · · MetisStrategy
“Rails in general are very good for the economy — we invest in infrastructure and equipment; rails put in about $25 billion annually into infrastructure, and Union Pacific put in about $3.3 billion back in last year.”
On , Rahul Jalali, Executive VP & Chief Information Officer at Union Pacific, spoke about infrastructure during How Union Pacific’s CIO is Modernizing the 160-Year-Old Railroad | Technovation 682 on MetisStrategy.
About Rahul Jalali
Rahul Jalali, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Union Pacific, discussed the company's modernization efforts in a July 2022 interview on the Technovation podcast. He described Union Pacific as a 160-year-old railroad that was established by the Pacific Railway Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Jalali noted that the railroad connects 23 states in the western two-thirds of the United States and plays a role in the global supply chain. He stated that rail is an environmentally responsible method of moving freight, with emissions about 75 percent less than trucks, and that the industry invests approximately $25 billion annually in infrastructure, with Union Pacific investing about $3.3 billion the previous year. Jalali outlined his vision of transforming Union Pacific into a platform company, noting that it processes about 5.7 billion API calls per day and aims to create a plug-and-play platform architecture to connect with supply-chain partners and customers. He said his team rebranded from "IT" to "Tech" and implemented an "IT swear jar" to discourage use of the old term. Jalali identified cybersecurity as a primary concern, citing the need for a cybersecurity mesh and flexible architecture across 32,000 miles of track and numerous IoT devices. He also discussed diversity and inclusion goals, including a stated aim to double the number of women working in field and operations roles.