BIG SPRINGS - Union Pacific Railroad is spending nearly $12 million to improve rail lines in the southern Nebraska Panhandle.

Railroad spokesman Mark Davis says the rail lines being targeted run between Big Springs and Potter. Davis says when completed, the project will have removed and installed more than 90,000 ties, spread nearly 29,000 tons of rock and renewed road surfaces at 50 crossings.

The project began on June 24 and is expected to be competed in mid-August.

Davis says Omaha-based Union Pacific invested more than $254 million for capital projects in Nebraska in 2008. During 2009, the company plans to invest $1.7 billion in strengthening the track infrastructure across its more than 32,000-mile system.