Standard Work Hours

[Anonymous]

What time periods were the railroads standard work hours for 12 hr day? 16 hr days? What's the current time limits?

Thanks,
Roger

[tatans]

12 hours? 16 hours? where is this railroad, in 1943 Russia? yikes ! !

[leighant]

I remember riding the Texas Mexican Express in late 1980s. Train schedule from Corpus Christi to Laredo (162 rail miles each way) was designed to allow crew to cover in 12 hour day with one hour to spare. Don't forget, that 12 hours is from the time they start the shift-- clock keeps running during lunch etc-- as far as 12-hour "hours of service" law. This does not mean crews are REQUIRED to work 12 hours, but that they are required by federal law to STOP after 12 hours, not perform an "operating" job until specified rest period.

I was going to put up Tex Mex Express pictures but I do not have them on a web page...

How is this as a Standard Work Hours picture?

[gvdobler]

I lew for an airline, we flew up to 8 hours a day with on-duty time limit of 16 hours. That was up til a year ago. That's standard on any major carrier. Same NTSB investigates accidents as trains.

Jon - Las Vegas

[cacole]

Current federal law is that railroad crews are allowed to be "on the clock" for no more than 12 hours, whether that is actually spent on the road or sitting around waiting for a clear signal.

There have been cases here in Arizona along the Union Pacific's Sunset Route, previously the Southern Pacific, where trains have stopped in the middle of nowhere, right on the main line, and the crew has just sat there and waited for replacements to arrive because they reached their 12 hour limit and refused to move the train in violation of federal labor laws. The railroad then has to find a replacement crew and drive them out to wherever the train is, and drive the off-duty crew to wherever they were scheduled to be when they went off duty.

Although these instances are rare, they occasionally happen when there are unscheduled delays because of track maintenance, signal problems, equipment breakdowns, etc.

[forester]

The original Hours of Service Law went into effect in 1907. It limited operating crews to no more than 16 hours of continuous duty. This limit was reduced to 12 hours by the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (I'm not sure if the new limits took effect in 1970 or a short time later). The limits set by the 1970 Act are still in effect. Emergency / wreck train crews are allowed 16 hours continuous duty in an emergency.

The Hours of Service Law is a hot topic with railroad labor and the NTSB, which considers the limits ineffective in reducing crew fatigue. I wouldn't be surprised to see a new law within a few years.

[Anonymous]

If it changes under this administration it will go back to 16 hours or there will be foreign "guest workers" replacing the union crews.