The General Code of Operating Rules governs the operation of the railroads listed in the Adopted By section. All employees regardless of gender whose duties are in any way affected thereby must comply with these rules.

This means that all of us must comply with these rules unless they are changed or modified. Each railroad has the right to change or modify the GCOR on their railroad.

The Union Pacific does this in several ways. We have System Special Instructions and System General Orders, which are specific changes that are only valid on the Union Pacific Railroad. In the timetable we change or add rules that only valid on a specific subdivision are listed on the subdivision page. The Superintendent of each Service Unit may issue superintendent bulletins that change or modify application of the rules that are only valid on that service unit.

GCOR

There are 17 chapters of the GCOR and each governs a specific portion of railroad operations. These chapters build on each other along with the glossary to create a safe operating environment for the railroad.

Union Pacific Railroad Special Instructions

The Union Pacific uses system standards that are valid on the entire Union Pacific Railroad unless changed or modified by Timetable subdivision changes or System General Orders. The System Special Instructions is divided into 23 items. Each item covers a specific area of railroad operations. The key here is to learn the system standards so that you only need to learn the exceptions to the standard as you change subdivisions.

Example {Item 2 sets a standard that Sidings identified with a “!” symbol, and turnouts connected to these sidings have a maximum speed of 30 MPH. Now all that is needed is to learn the exceptions to this standard on your subdivision}

Union Pacific System General Orders

The Union Pacific uses System General Orders to change or modify rules that have been changed or modified since the last System Special Instructions was published. These are found in the =ON function of TCS. These are living documents and are changed as needed to address the changes in railroad operations.

Union Pacific Timetable

The Union Pacific uses subdivision pages to change or modify rules on a specific subdivision. These changes are only valid on the subdivision on which they are specified. This allows changes that address specific needs of a specific subdivision.

Superintendent Bulletins

The Superintendent of each service unit issues specific instructions that apply only on the service unit for which they are issued. These bulletins are found in the =ON function of TCS.