Final reciprocal-switching rule published. Effective in 180 days.
https://www.railwayage.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/52104.pdf
OvermodFinal reciprocal-switching rule published.
No wonder it's final. They musta run out of ink.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of Covington Overmod Final reciprocal-switching rule published. No wonder it's final. They musta run out of ink.
Overmod Final reciprocal-switching rule published.
Must have taxed the legal-industrial complex with all the legalese!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
The rule is being made to help customers get better service. I'm not sure it's really going to do much. I suspect that this is just a preliminary move to get customers what they really want, reciprocal switching for a better (cheaper) rate.
The biggest delays aren't so much in the line haul portion, unless the car has to make multiple connections on the same railroad, but in terminal areas. The first/last miles can be brutal. With PSR, lots of industry jobs have been reduced by making the remaining jobs do more whenever possible. If they can't do that, they'll combine two industry jobs into one by having the job alternate which set of customers it will switch on a given day. Service to an individual customer goes from daily to a few times per week. At the same time, they want to reduce overtime, so any job that is about to start overtime is told to "high ball" (by pass) the remaining work.
So now a customer that is getting crappy service can petition for reciprocal switching, provided they're located in a terminal area served by another carrier. So now to "improve" service, railroad A that services the customer (the crappy service) now has to pull a load and turn it over toe railroad B (less crappy service). To illustrate. Wilson's Widgets releases a load on Monday to be pulled by railroad A. Railroad A only has a job working WW on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Tuesday RR A actually pulls the load. (For a change, the job didn't have to high ball WW.) The industry job takes the car to the main yard. Where it's switched into a cut going to interchange with railroad B. The job that works the interchange with RR B has already left the yard. The cars won't get interchanged to RR B until Wednesday. RR B's job that works the interchange pulls the car on Wednesday and takes it to the yard. The car gets switched into a block going towards the car's destination. Unfortunately, the train for that day has already departed. Maybe it can be switched into another block for a train headed somewhat in the correct direction. That means it'll be setout at an intermediate yard where it's switched to be picked up later. You can dwell at origin or downsteam, but the car is going to sit an extra 8 to 12 (or more) hours somewhere. The car is probably going to leave on RR B on Thursday. All that assumes that the car isn't delayed, either on RR A or RR B somewhere in the process. The remedy isn't much better than the problem.
Meanwhile Wilson's Widgets and other customers across the country approach the STB saying service still sucks. If we have to pay for reduced service we should either have access to other carriers to get a better rate or just lower rates all around. What they wanted all along.
Jeff
jeffhergertThe rule is being made to help customers get better service. I'm not sure it's really going to do much. I suspect that this is just a preliminary move to get customers what they really want, reciprocal switching for a better (cheaper) rate. The biggest delays aren't so much in the line haul portion, unless the car has to make multiple connections on the same railroad, but in terminal areas. The first/last miles can be brutal. With PSR, lots of industry jobs have been reduced by making the remaining jobs do more whenever possible. If they can't do that, they'll combine two industry jobs into one by having the job alternate which set of customers it will switch on a given day. Service to an individual customer goes from daily to a few times per week. At the same time, they want to reduce overtime, so any job that is about to start overtime is told to "high ball" (by pass) the remaining work. So now a customer that is getting crappy service can petition for reciprocal switching, provided they're located in a terminal area served by another carrier. So now to "improve" service, railroad A that services the customer (the crappy service) now has to pull a load and turn it over toe railroad B (less crappy service). To illustrate. Wilson's Widgets releases a load on Monday to be pulled by railroad A. Railroad A only has a job working WW on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. On Tuesday RR A actually pulls the load. (For a change, the job didn't have to high ball WW.) The industry job takes the car to the main yard. Where it's switched into a cut going to interchange with railroad B. The job that works the interchange with RR B has already left the yard. The cars won't get interchanged to RR B until Wednesday. RR B's job that works the interchange pulls the car on Wednesday and takes it to the yard. The car gets switched into a block going towards the car's destination. Unfortunately, the train for that day has already departed. Maybe it can be switched into another block for a train headed somewhat in the correct direction. That means it'll be setout at an intermediate yard where it's switched to be picked up later. You can dwell at origin or downsteam, but the car is going to sit an extra 8 to 12 (or more) hours somewhere. The car is probably going to leave on RR B on Thursday. All that assumes that the car isn't delayed, either on RR A or RR B somewhere in the process. The remedy isn't much better than the problem. Meanwhile Wilson's Widgets and other customers across the country approach the STB saying service still sucks. If we have to pay for reduced service we should either have access to other carriers to get a better rate or just lower rates all around. What they wanted all along. Jeff
Back in the pre-Staggers era, in big terminals, daily service was the norm for virtually every company that had that level of business. Some big organizations could even get multiple times per day service. My personal experience was that the A&P grocery warehouse in Halethorpe, MD got two switches M-F; Giant grocery warehouse at Jessup, MD got two switches M-F; General Motors Assembly at Holabird, MD got three switches M-F as did GM at Wilsmere, DE. In the 21st Century all those facilities are flat out GONE.
Loose car railroading in the 21st Century is a niche undertaking and as such is given the limited support that its revenues generate - it is not a growth market.
I would opine that it will work where there's more than one railroad in town. If the nearest interchange is tens of miles away, not so much.
I could be wrong.
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...
tree68I would opine that it will work where there's more than one railroad in town.
Where there is one carrier in town - there is ONLY one carrier in town.
Reciprocal switching is where there is more than one carrier in town, but the customer's plant is only on one of the carriers and he desires service from another of the carriers.
Baltimore, as a city in the 21st Century, is served by two Class 1 carriers - CSX and NS. Some customers are located on CSX served property, some customers are located on NS served property.
That I am aware of there was never a Reciprocal Switching Agreement amongst the Class 1 carriers that served Baltimore in the pre-Staggers era - namely Baltimore & Ohio, Pennsylvania and Western Maryland. The Maryland & Pennsylvania did have some customers but was not a Class 1 carrier. All traffic was handled on a interchange between carriers basis - I have no idea how the road haul revenue divisions were handled. As info there were Switching carriers in Baltimore - the Canton Railroad, Patapsco & Back Rivers, Curtis Bay Railroad. The Canton served multiple customers in SE Baltimore, the P&BR served Bethlehem Steel and some customers that had plants on the Bethlehem Steel plant's footprint, Curtis Bay Railroad served WR Grace and several cusomers that had plants on the WR Grace property.
In the 21st Century, Bethlehem Steel, General Motors Assembly Plant and a large number of other industries from the pre-Staggers era no longer exist.
Where Reciprocal Switching would fit into 21st Century Baltimore ???????
Overmod tree68 I would opine that it will work where there's more than one railroad in town. I thought most of the point of the STB's interest in a reciprocal-switching rule was precisely for those situations where there is 'only one railroad in town' and they can charge stranded customers what they think the traffic ought to bear. We've had discussions here about the potential importance of re-regulation; here is one practical application of the principle where the railroads refused to address the situation themselves.
tree68 I would opine that it will work where there's more than one railroad in town.
I thought most of the point of the STB's interest in a reciprocal-switching rule was precisely for those situations where there is 'only one railroad in town' and they can charge stranded customers what they think the traffic ought to bear. We've had discussions here about the potential importance of re-regulation; here is one practical application of the principle where the railroads refused to address the situation themselves.
This rule only is fin response to poor service, not rates being charged. It also mentions "terminal areas." There have been proposals for reciprocal switching to remedy perceived rate abuses for customers within X of miles (I remember 31 being one proposed number) from an interchange point.
I believe the ultiate goal of shipper's groups is reciprocal switching for rate remedies. This is just the first step towards that goal.
BaltACDLoose car railroading in the 21st Century is a niche undertaking and as such is given the limited support that its revenues generate - it is not a growth market.
As I've understood it, the reciprocal-switching rule as seen from the Government's perspective has always been primarily an issue of 'fairness' -- captive shippers being charged what their captor decides the traffic should bear. That is something that would resonate -- we need not speculate for what reasons -- in many bureaucratic minds, particularly those increasingly irritated by the modern PSR robber-baron-redux trends.
One can easily expect that the actual costs of any railroad's implementation of loose-car reciprocal switching will balloon to the point the actual revenue from traffic becomes insufficient (vs. truck competition, whether or not cheap electric autonomous stuff becomes technically practicable). It remains to be seen how far the 'stick' of re-regulation or common-carrier obligation regardless of price or proven profitability gets applied, particularly as Buttegieg is groomed to be the party savior in 2028.
I guess we may as well rip out all the short lines and regionals, as for many most of their business is loose car service. We can go to the late J. G. Kneiling's vision of an Amtrak-like system, one that just connects major metro complexes and maybe a few branches where bulk unit trains can be loaded.
We can just convert all that business to intermodal, which means just going all highway because intermodal terminals will be far enough apart as to make rail impractical. Then we won't have to worry about rail rates or reciprocal switching.
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