Well, someone posted this news from yesterday in the wrong forum, and it's gone (not knocking the mods).
Wabtec will modernize 600 Union Pacific locomotives (most AC4400s and AC6000s, plus 75 Dash-9s).
David
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Wonder if this investment will include any locomotives currently in storage?
This phrase appeared in the article:
"...will allow Union Pacific to keep more of its fleet of 7,400 locomotives in storage. UP has already parked hundreds of locomotives as part of the operational changes it has made over the past several years..."
Gee...that's going to look really great on the balance sheet. 
Why would any sane company purposely hang on to unused and unneeded assets? We must be missing something here because that makes no sense to me at all.
I read that same paragraph and then re-read it because I thought I mis-read it at first. I thought the same thing and tried to figure out what they meant. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the same thing.
Tax write-offs?
There are lots of corporate decisions that are tax driven and leveraged. At first glance they may seem not to make sense, but "below the surface" there are valid economic decisions for taking such actions. Losses used to offset gains, asset depreciations, etc. Whatever steps the UP is taking, it's unlikely they're doing it in order to lose money. Years ago I knew the person who headed up the real estate department for one of the largest national fast food chains. They were involved with lots of transactions involving the buying and selling of real estate, and he said selling property at a loss is often an action that ends up making economic sense for large corporations because of tax law considerations. Just one example of a beneficial business decision that seems counterintuitive, but in fact makes economic sense. Not sure what factors are part of UP's actions, but this may be part if of it.
Put in "storage" those units won't require periodic inspections? Savings $$ right there and whenever there's an upsurge in traffic for the corn harvest or beets or whatever, bring out the number required & put them to work.
Two years ago I was riding AMTRAK from my place in California to Oregon and I remember seeing a bunch of UP SD90's parked in southern Oregon. I thought those had been scrapped years ago, but they were just parked there.
