I wonder why the dwell times for the Norfolk Southern are higher than other railroad companies? Which yard is worse? Conway? Which yard is best?
http://www.railroadpm.org/
466lex http://www.railroadpm.org/
According the graph of "Terminal Dwell" for all railroads reporting there, at:
http://www.railroadpm.org/Graphs/Terminal%20Dwell%20Graph.aspx
NS is about in the middle of the pack; UP seems to consistently show the highest numbers.
Make sure you read the "General Definitions" of it at:
http://www.railroadpm.org/Definitions.aspx
On dwell time - the data is complex - see:
http://www.railroadpm.org/Performance%20Reports/NS.aspx
Generally, Conway isn't the highest/ longest, but it's usually in the top 3 to 5 of the 14 yards tracked there.
- Paul North.
With management bonus hanging on the dwell times I wouldn't doubt some of these guys would sell their own family into slavery to get a car out of the yard 30 seconds earlier.
10000 feet and no dynamics? Today is going to be a good day ...
Better yet, have their own family grab a locomotive and take a few cars on down the line to get them out of the yard count . . .
traisessive1 With management bonus hanging on the dwell times I wouldn't doubt some of these guys would sell their own family into slavery to get a car out of the yard 30 seconds earlier.
It's train to train connections that NS measures as part of the bonus. It's a measure of the value added from the car classification process.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Wouldn't the dwell times be a tool to comapre each railroad to own historical and future levels, and much less useful in comparing between railroads?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Paul_D_North_Jr Better yet, have their own family grab a locomotive and take a few cars on down the line to get them out of the yard count . . . - Paul North.
Seems like I've seen several accounts here on the forum involving cars sent elsewhere so they weren't in the yard. Of course, they came back, but that was a different problem.
Recall hearing of a senior NCO who emptied his in-box into an inter-office envelope each Friday, addressed to himself. It would return through the distribution system each Monday, but his desk was clear for the weekend...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 Paul_D_North_Jr Better yet, have their own family grab a locomotive and take a few cars on down the line to get them out of the yard count . . . - Paul North. Seems like I've seen several accounts here on the forum involving cars sent elsewhere so they weren't in the yard. Of course, they came back, but that was a different problem. Recall hearing of a senior NCO who emptied his in-box into an inter-office envelope each Friday, addressed to himself. It would return through the distribution system each Monday, but his desk was clear for the weekend...
A couple of conductors who worked yard jobs (when they could hold them) talked about a block of empty tank cars that bounced back and forth between Boone and Council Bluffs for a month.
Part of the bonus for terminal managers is tied to getting an originating train or one that does scheduled work out of the terminal by it's scheduled departure time. One night I was on such a train. The inbound crew had made a rear end set out. We had finished the pick up, but the yard utility man hadn't replaced the EOT and I was looking at a red signal at the main track switch anyway. The departure window was getting close. (Generally it's about 2 hours from call time to departure.) The yard manager on duty called me on the radio from his office and asked if we were pulling. I said no, that I didn't have a signal. He said his screen (a less detailed version of the dispatcher's screen) showed we were lined up and to start pulling. I said that the signal I was looking at was red and that his yard man didn't have the EOT on yet. That took the wind out of his sails and he said to leave as soon as we could.
I heard once some managers got in trouble for doing kind of what Paul suggested. Once the train was made up and crew called, they would have a yard crew drag the train past the AEI reader. It would show the train has "departed" and the yard as having met it's call time to departure goal for that train.
Jeff
Jeff, I always enjoy your truth-telling posts, as above. And because it's clear who you work for, I wonder how you get away with it (assuming, perhaps erroneously, that you are using your real name).
I'm curious because, back when I was a reporter, I had a real good source for inside stuff in a local engineer who let me quote him by name -- for a while. Finally he had to beg off because of guff from company headquarters. And he was not only head of his local but the union's state legislative director.
jeffhergert I heard once some managers got in trouble for doing kind of what Paul suggested. Once the train was made up and crew called, they would have a yard crew drag the train past the AEI reader. It would show the train has "departed" and the yard as having met it's call time to departure goal for that train. Jeff
The act of building a train and then pulling to somewhere outside terminal limits is not necessarily an effort to 'fudge the departure clock'. Terminals all have a finite capacity. When they go full, they can't yard anything until they depart something.
A terminal on my territory will frequently move one or more trains outside the yard as a means of survival. Crews for the trains are non-existant when they were built, so yard crews pull them out of the yard, where the line of road crews, when they become available will go to get the train and move it to its next terminal. Opening up room lets the terminal continue to operate.
The down side of this happening is that the line of road velocity for that line segment takes a hit.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Murphy Siding Wouldn't the dwell times be a tool to comapre each railroad to own historical and future levels, and much less useful in comparing between railroads?
"All six railroads use the same definitions to calculate their performance data, ensuring a high degree of consistency of the measurements. However, these measures are most useful for examining trends and relative changes, and least useful as absolutes.
The level of one railroad’s performance relative to another’s may differ sharply because each railroad is unique. Differences between railroads include terrain, physical routes and network design, traffic mix and volume, the extent of passenger operations, and operational practices. External factors such as weather and port operations can also cause variations between railroads and over time. In addition,individual differences in the collection and reporting of operational data may affect the absolute level of the measures on each road to some degree."
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