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Reciprocal switching

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  • Member since
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Posted by PNWRMNM on Monday, August 2, 2021 8:38 AM

 

Heck Mac; the railroads have been picking shipper pockets since EHH hatched the psr egg.

CW

 

[/quote]

CW,

Rail customers have been whining about 'too high' rail rates since the day the B&O opened its line to Ellicot City.

Mac

  • Member since
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Posted by Juniata Man on Monday, August 2, 2021 8:55 AM

PNWRMNM

 

Heck Mac; the railroads have been picking shipper pockets since EHH hatched the psr egg.

CW

 

CW,

Rail customers have been whining about 'too high' rail rates since the day the B&O opened its line to Ellicot City.

Mac

 

[/quote]

LOL! Mac, the folks at the AAR must love you. ;-)

CW

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, August 2, 2021 9:08 AM

Juniata Man
 
PNWRMNM

Heck Mac; the railroads have been picking shipper pockets since EHH hatched the psr egg.

CW 

CW,

Rail customers have been whining about 'too high' rail rates since the day the B&O opened its line to Ellicot City.

Mac

LOL! Mac, the folks at the AAR must love you. ;-)

CW[/quote]

Shippers have always felt there should be 'Free Shipping'.  Since the dawn of time.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Juniata Man on Monday, August 2, 2021 9:59 AM

BaltACD

 

 
Juniata Man
 
PNWRMNM

Heck Mac; the railroads have been picking shipper pockets since EHH hatched the psr egg.

CW 

CW,

Rail customers have been whining about 'too high' rail rates since the day the B&O opened its line to Ellicot City.

Mac

 

LOL! Mac, the folks at the AAR must love you. ;-)

CW

Shippers have always felt there should be 'Free Shipping'.  Since the dawn of time.

 

[/quote]

And railroads have been gouging since the beginning too. Frankly, this is a circular argument and ones position on the matter is based on whether they were a railroader or shipper although, as I've mentioned previously, I knew a lot of former railroaders who moved over to the shipper side and suddenly saw their former industry in a whole new light.

CW

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Posted by jeffhergert on Monday, August 2, 2021 10:40 AM

Juniata Man

 

 
BaltACD

 

 
Juniata Man
 
PNWRMNM

Heck Mac; the railroads have been picking shipper pockets since EHH hatched the psr egg.

CW 

CW,

Rail customers have been whining about 'too high' rail rates since the day the B&O opened its line to Ellicot City.

Mac

 

LOL! Mac, the folks at the AAR must love you. ;-)

CW

 

Shippers have always felt there should be 'Free Shipping'.  Since the dawn of time.

 

And railroads have been gouging since the beginning too. Frankly, this is a circular argument and ones position on the matter is based on whether they were a railroader or shipper although, as I've mentioned previously, I knew a lot of former railroaders who moved over to the shipper side and suddenly saw their former industry in a whole new light.

CW

 

[/quote]

Well of course when you work for a new employer you'll be seeing things there way. 

Frank Wilner (Railway Age contributor and author) used to be on the side of labor, now he's on the side of management.  The late John Norwood (DRGW employee and author of narrow gauge books) said after he retired he used his knowledge to fight against railroad abandonments instead of fighting for them when he was working.

It'll all come down to who can buy (rent?) the most congress people.

Jeff

  

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Posted by Juniata Man on Monday, August 2, 2021 11:03 AM

Jeff:

Your comment about Frank Wilner is spot on. I can remember when Frank was with the UTU.

In all honesty though, it would be a foolish person who isn't constantly aware of who issues their paycheck.

CW

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
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Posted by zugmann on Monday, August 2, 2021 12:16 PM

jeffhergert
Frank Wilner (Railway Age contributor and author) used to be on the side of labor, now he's on the side of management. 

Anyone in the industry has seen plenty of people do a 180 in about 5 minutes when they take on the title of manager and don the button-down shirt. 

It's all about who is signing the check.  Just a modification on the world's oldest profession. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

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Posted by SD70Dude on Monday, August 2, 2021 2:03 PM

Wilner's UTU got decertified in Canada after they took CN's side during our 2007 strike.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, August 2, 2021 9:39 PM

A real worry. If RR A makes a reciprocal pick up agreement with owning  RR  B.  What happens when RR B conviently says switching crew is always running out of HOS so cannot pick up on contracted day ?

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, August 2, 2021 9:59 PM

blue streak 1
A real worry. If RR A makes a reciprocal pick up agreement with owning  RR  B.  What happens when RR B conviently says switching crew is always running out of HOS so cannot pick up on contracted day ?

The intent of reciprocal switching is that the company being switched supplies traffic to both roads A & B.  Playing around with the switches may also disadvantage road A as well as B.  Of course in the world of PSR, road A may want to run off the company being reciprocally switched and doesn't care about switching for either their own or B's account. 

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Juniata Man on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 7:03 AM

In line with Balt's comment; one cardinal personal rule I had with respect to use of interswitching at our Canadian plants was analogous to several previous comments about who signs your paycheck. I counseled our folks to never forget whose name is on the locomotives that switch your site. 

Reciprocal or interswitching is most effective when it's used to keep in check the natural aggressive tendencies of Class 1 railroads. It serves as a reminder that you have options and makes them more inclined to treat you as a valued customer. But, you still have to keep your switching carrier interested by awarding them a volume of linehaul traffic that keeps them in the game.

Use of the reciprocal switching / interswitching tool is a balancing act. 

CW

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