Here is an evaluation of the Railroad Companies' plans submitted to the STB.
Interesting to see which Companies are willing to admit to the problem and which are dogmatic.
Railway Age Opinion Piece
My take on CSX - Harrison came on the property and eliminated the metrix the company had been managing to ever since the company choked on its operation of the ConRail acquisition (which had been mandated by the STB account of the service failures) and substituted metrix of his own PSR design.
It would seem that EHH's metrix didn't include the customer, and his disciples still haven't recognized the customer.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Balt:Can you share the metrix which was implemented as compared to the previous tool?
I read the entire article and it appears that railroads are facing the same issue the airlines are attempting to manage - shrinking labor pool and the congestion which results from a lack of labor. Hmm, come to think about it, that is the same challenges (among others) that my employer (a manufacturer) is facing. We do not have enough qualified labor and a very high demand.
Trucking companies have always faced that issue, but at this time there appears to be a slowdown in the amount of freight moved. Rates are dropping. Costs are higher. Bankruptcies and shut downs will soon follow.
It will be of interest to see what the recent California ruling on employees vs contractors has in store for the movement of freight.
Interesting times we live in, but not much fun.
Ed
MP173Balt: Can you share the metrix which was implemented as compared to the previous tool? I read the entire article and it appears that railroads are facing the same issue the airlines are attempting to manage - shrinking labor pool and the congestion which results from a lack of labor. Hmm, come to think about it, that is the same challenges (among others) that my employer (a manufacturer) is facing. We do not have enough qualified labor and a very high demand. Trucking companies have always faced that issue, but at this time there appears to be a slowdown in the amount of freight moved. Rates are dropping. Costs are higher. Bankruptcies and shut downs will soon follow. It will be of interest to see what the recent California ruling on employees vs contractors has in store for the movement of freight. Interesting times we live in, but not much fun. Ed
Can you share the metrix which was implemented as compared to the previous tool?
No I can't. I retired in Dec. 2016, and EHH came on board March 1, 2017. There were articles in the trade press about the changes he made.
When I was working among the prime metrix were, 'Right Car Right Train', 'On Board Work Order' compliance, Terminal Dwell with the standard being less than 24 hours, Car Scheduling compliance - origin pull to destination placement. There are a multitude more that were in place when I was working. What EHH replaced them with, I have no idea. In September 2017 the Baltimore Dispatching office was moved back to Jacksonville. Don't recall the exact date; the Baltimore Divison Offices where were in a rented/converted warehouse space at Halethorpe where they had been since 1979 were moved to some building at the Curtis Bay Coal Pier (Garden Spot of Baltimore [/sarcasm] ). The Halethorpe offices were on property that had housed 'The Fair of the Iron Horse' that celebrated 100 years of the B&O in the late Summer of 1927. The land had been sold off by the B&O for industrial development purposes and in the 1970's had 24 hour yard engines to service all the customer in the immediate area - roughly 100 cars a day. Over the years the business was run off by various business policies. At the time the Dispatchers left, a yard job from Curtis Bay would come to the area once or twice a with with a couple of cars each way.
My favorite line: "I expect that NS may very well reconsider that intermodal assessment. It should be targeting the previous leader in the intermodal field, Conrail, as to performance—and striving to at least match the performance of the current CSX intermodal compliance."
To add to it... just the other day I see some recent picture of 21Z (former Conrail Mail train) toodling across Ohio....with two units. Schedule needs 2 HP/ton. Physics (and the schedule) haven't changed...
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Just checked some records...21Z typically has only 2 units...and usually 125-175 containers/trailers. Back in February (before the market fell out on trucking) it was typically running with 2 motors and over 200 containers.
On the other hand, 24M - Chicago to Baltimore will always have 2 units, often with only 40-50 containers / trailers. Today's CSX I10 had 2 units, 46 revenue loads with 19 UPS.
I have old Conrail freight schedules and have been reviewing their offerings. Considerable block swapping and intermediate markets served.
On the other hand, today's CSX I161 had 2 motors, "almost 17,000 ft" and 513 containers. That must have been a monster to yard at North Baltimore.
ed
MP173 Balt:Can you share the metrix which was implemented as compared to the previous tool? I read the entire article and it appears that railroads are facing the same issue the airlines are attempting to manage - shrinking labor pool and the congestion which results from a lack of labor. Hmm, come to think about it, that is the same challenges (among others) that my employer (a manufacturer) is facing. We do not have enough qualified labor and a very high demand. Trucking companies have always faced that issue, but at this time there appears to be a slowdown in the amount of freight moved. Rates are dropping. Costs are higher. Bankruptcies and shut downs will soon follow. It will be of interest to see what the recent California ruling on employees vs contractors has in store for the movement of freight. Interesting times we live in, but not much fun. Ed
Terminal dwell time and train depature time are big, as well as asset utilization especially with regards to locomotives.
The problem is that trains may get out of the yard fast but they then sit out on the the main lines. Then, because the train that was waiting for those engines won't have them,that train will be late leaving the next yard.
When it finally does leave, it causes a traffic jam on the main line because it is running at a time it shouldn't be.
This causes more trains to outlaw on the main line, and now you've used all your crews.
The railroad gells up and the customers are not getting their cars.
Actual customer service is bad, but the railroad can tell Wall Street that the cars are moving out of the yards and the locomotives are being well utilized. They can say they are very efficent.
Wall Street cheers and the stock price increases. And on and on.
CSX sending IT off shore
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/csx-outsourcing-137-information-technology-jobs
That ought to fix everthing.
BaltACD CSX sending IT off shore https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/csx-outsourcing-137-information-technology-jobs That ought to fix everthing.
Usually the same people stay at the same desk. Only thing that changes is who issues the check.
New managment will determine the same benefits if they insource it in 5 years.
My company's IT group have been on that yo-yo string.
rdamon BaltACD CSX sending IT off shore https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/csx-outsourcing-137-information-technology-jobs That ought to fix everthing. Usually the same people stay at the same desk. Only thing that changes is who issues the check. New managment will determine the same benefits if they insource it in 5 years. My company's IT group have been on that yo-yo string.
Back about 2002-2005 or thereabouts - CSX outsourced their Communications Department to AT&T, with the understanding that issues on the railroad would get 24/7/365 response and resolution. It didn't take long for CSX to see and understand that the AT&T version of 24/7/365 was 8-5 M-F and Holidays Off. The contract was cancelled within about 6 months and CSX pleaded with employees they had terminated to come back to work for CSX. I heard some substanstial Bonus' were offered to entice employees to return.
I have no idea how Tata will respond to 24/7/365 service that functions in IT continually require.
When I was working, the System Main Frame system was shut down for approximately 45 minutes at 0045 every Sunday morning for routine system updating of both hardware and software on the system. Sometimes there would be issues with the updates and the system would not come back to life at the appointed time - then it was all hands on deck and at battle stations on the IT side to find out what was happening and how to get the system back in operation.
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