Let’s play some games.

It took 7.7 years to build the transcontinental railroad. This railroad conquered deserts to open West to settlers.

It took Boston the infamous number of years to complete. “Big Dig”Highway project that opened officials up to the cries “boondoggle”As a result of cost overruns and design flaws:

This is not another story about America’s loss of its mojo. Union Pacific, the company that laid the hundreds of miles of railroad tracks across America, is celebrating its 150th year. While the public may be able to accept the politics of their leaders, you can’t keep your business in business for that long without excelling.

“Practically everything that touches our daily lives moves on a train,”Jack Koraleski is president and CEO. “That includes grains and produce to feed families, concrete for roads, lumber to build homes, and chemicals to make our water safe for drinking.”

Union Pacific (exclusively this year)www.up.comThe record-breaking $3.6 billion will be invested in infrastructure “so taxpayers don’t have to,”Koraleski says that approximately 4,000 Americans are employed to transport products within the United States.

The investment is part of a larger effort to meet the enormous demand in this country for wheat and corn from Iowa and Kansas farmers. (The U.S. corn yield will exceed 170 bushels/acre by 2015)

Another aspect is to move everything seamlessly from cars to metal to plastic to Mexico. Mexico is our second largest trading partner after Canada.

If you are wondering what The New Big Thing could be to boost the economy, here’s something that is on nearly everyone’s radar.

It’s believed that Shale drilling is America’s next Gold Rush.

Yes, energy analysts are still predicting huge profits from new technology that makes it easier to extract fossil fuels. Citigroup estimates that there could be 3.6 million new jobs. The reliable Union Pacific is busy shipping crude oil from the United States to Gulf Coast refineries with limited pipeline capacity. According to railroad estimates, there could be 100,000 carloads worth of crude oil by the end of the year, as well as as as many as 230,000 carloads steel pipe and fracsand that are used for drilling.