I am not and expert on this and do not work for the railroads, but I remember someone on the forum once mention that federal law says that 12 hours is the maximum you can be on.
Federal law limits train crews to 12 hours on duty and they have to have 10 hours undisturbed rest between tours of duty. If they exceed 12 hours then they receive additional undisturbed rest on a minute by minute basis for the time them they were over 12 hours. They cannot work more than 276 hours per month. If they work more than six consecutive days in a row they are required to have 48 hours off. If they work the 6th day going to the away from home terminal they may be worked back home on the 7th day but must get 72 hours off. Passenger service and yardmaster service is not covered by many of these limitations.
Time on duty over 12 hours is called "limbo time". If a crew reaches their hours of service and have not reached their tie up location, the time until they reach the tie up location is limbo time, they are considered "on duty" but not performing "service". Crews are limited to 30 hours of limbo time per month. Once they reach 30 hours of limbo time the railroad must either get them tied up prior to 12 hours on duty, not use them and pay them a guarantee or use them and pay a fine if they work over 12 hours.
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dehusman Federal law limits train crews to 12 hours on duty and they have to have 10 hours undisturbed rest between tours of duty. If they exceed 12 hours then they receive additional undisturbed rest on a minute by minute basis for the time them they were over 12 hours. They cannot work more than 276 hours per month. If they work more than six consecutive days in a row they are required to have 48 hours off. If they work the 6th day going to the away from home terminal they may be worked back home on the 7th day but must get 72 hours off. Passenger service and yardmaster service is not covered by many of these limitations. Time on duty over 12 hours is called "limbo time". If a crew reaches their hours of service and have not reached their tie up location, the time until they reach the tie up location is limbo time, they are considered "on duty" but not performing "service". Crews are limited to 30 hours of limbo time per month. Once they reach 30 hours of limbo time the railroad must either get them tied up prior to 12 hours on duty, not use them and pay them a guarantee or use them and pay a fine if they work over 12 hours.
Train & Engine crews in passenger service are covered by the same Hours of Service regulations as freight crews - there are no differences between the classes of service.
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BaltACDdehusman Federal law limits train crews to 12 hours on duty and they have to have 10 hours undisturbed rest between tours of duty. If they exceed 12 hours then they receive additional undisturbed rest on a minute by minute basis for the time them they were over 12 hours. They cannot work more than 276 hours per month. If they work more than six consecutive days in a row they are required to have 48 hours off. If they work the 6th day going to the away from home terminal they may be worked back home on the 7th day but must get 72 hours off. Passenger service and yardmaster service is not covered by many of these limitations. Time on duty over 12 hours is called "limbo time". If a crew reaches their hours of service and have not reached their tie up location, the time until they reach the tie up location is limbo time, they are considered "on duty" but not performing "service". Crews are limited to 30 hours of limbo time per month. Once they reach 30 hours of limbo time the railroad must either get them tied up prior to 12 hours on duty, not use them and pay them a guarantee or use them and pay a fine if they work over 12 hours. Train & Engine crews in passenger service are covered by the same Hours of Service regulations as freight crews - there are no differences between the classes of service.
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If a train crew does not work a full tour, say nine or ten hours, is there a mandatory rest period before they can be called back for duty?
James
henry6BaltACD dehusman Federal law limits train crews to 12 hours on duty and they have to have 10 hours undisturbed rest between tours of duty. If they exceed 12 hours then they receive additional undisturbed rest on a minute by minute basis for the time them they were over 12 hours. They cannot work more than 276 hours per month. If they work more than six consecutive days in a row they are required to have 48 hours off. If they work the 6th day going to the away from home terminal they may be worked back home on the 7th day but must get 72 hours off. Passenger service and yardmaster service is not covered by many of these limitations. Time on duty over 12 hours is called "limbo time". If a crew reaches their hours of service and have not reached their tie up location, the time until they reach the tie up location is limbo time, they are considered "on duty" but not performing "service". Crews are limited to 30 hours of limbo time per month. Once they reach 30 hours of limbo time the railroad must either get them tied up prior to 12 hours on duty, not use them and pay them a guarantee or use them and pay a fine if they work over 12 hours. Train & Engine crews in passenger service are covered by the same Hours of Service regulations as freight crews - there are no differences between the classes of service. I am not sure this is completely true, BALTACD. There use to be, and I think there still are, commuter districts with split shifts of several hours in one day part, a long 5-8 hour, layover then another shift in a different day part. This is a carryover from the old 100 mile per day contracts. I am not sure these still prevail today but if so they may be in contradiction to ten consecutive hours off rule but not necessarily.
BaltACD dehusman Federal law limits train crews to 12 hours on duty and they have to have 10 hours undisturbed rest between tours of duty. If they exceed 12 hours then they receive additional undisturbed rest on a minute by minute basis for the time them they were over 12 hours. They cannot work more than 276 hours per month. If they work more than six consecutive days in a row they are required to have 48 hours off. If they work the 6th day going to the away from home terminal they may be worked back home on the 7th day but must get 72 hours off. Passenger service and yardmaster service is not covered by many of these limitations. Time on duty over 12 hours is called "limbo time". If a crew reaches their hours of service and have not reached their tie up location, the time until they reach the tie up location is limbo time, they are considered "on duty" but not performing "service". Crews are limited to 30 hours of limbo time per month. Once they reach 30 hours of limbo time the railroad must either get them tied up prior to 12 hours on duty, not use them and pay them a guarantee or use them and pay a fine if they work over 12 hours. Train & Engine crews in passenger service are covered by the same Hours of Service regulations as freight crews - there are no differences between the classes of service.
Crews - both freight & passenger - can be given a 4 or more hour 'respite' which is a limited 'rest period' within their work day. They are on pay for this period, but it does not count against their HOS time.
Example - Crew on duty 0600; works to away terminal & relieved at 1000 - 4 hours on duty. Crew was given a respite and instructed to go back on duty at 1600 (6 hours rest). Crew works back home and ties up at 2000. Hours of service = 8 hours on duty. Pay = 14 Hours.
On my carrier, callers cannot call individuals during the respite period - they must show up on their own. Crews on respite MUST be given a specific time to put themselves back on duty as they will not receive a call from the callers.
While the Company cannot contact crewmen during their 10 hour undisturbed rest period - crews can contact the company and can agree to go on duty at the expiration of their 10 hour period, rather than having the callers call at the end of the 10 hour period and the crew go on duty 2 hours later (standard call period is 2 hours).
Yes, 10 hours.
The Butler If a train crew does not work a full tour, say nine or ten hours, is there a mandatory rest period before they can be called back for duty?
As applied by my carrier - once a crew goes 'off duty' they cannot be called by the carrier for 10 hours. The ONLY allowable exception is where the crew went off duty without giving up track occupancy authority they hold. Reasoning being that by not giving up their authority, the could not legitimately go off duty. It makes no difference if the crew was on duty 30 minutes or 12 hours - marking off duty gets 10 hours undisturbed rest.
One clarification, and I've probably failed to make it before myself, about the 6/7 day thing. It's not 6/7 calendar days, but consecutive tours of duty.
When the law first took effect, it was by calendar day. If you worked (Going by when you began your tour of duty) twice during the same calendar day, it only counted as one day. The law changed from consecutive calendar days to consecutive tours of duty. Now if you work twice in one calendar day, it counts as two tours of duty.
Jeff
jeffhergertOne clarification, and I've probably failed to make it before myself, about the 6/7 day thing. It's not 6/7 calendar days, but consecutive tours of duty.
Here at Kenova on the NS we do have 6/2.Work or don't work six,you have two days off.Cycle back on at 5am for a 7am call if you stand for it.We just don't collect annulment days on this deal.
Collin ,operator of the " Eastern Kentucky & Ohio R.R."
henry6Remember labor laws in most states define a day off as 24 consecutive hours. Thus one could go off duty at 4PM Monday and go back on duty at 4PM Tuesday and it be considered a day off.
24 consecutive hours off breaks the 6/7 "day" cycle. Some on duty activities, such as dead heading, don't count as a tour of duty.
Some places have adopted some form of "smart rest." It allows an employee after their 4th or 5th tour of duty to mark off long enough to get the 24 hour break to reset. Some of those places that have this have it optional, if you want the 48/72 hours off you can keep working. Other places it's mandatory to take the extended rest.
We don't have it where I work. I wouldn't mind if it were optional, but I don't think I would want it mandatory. Sometimes the only time you can get a decent break (2am to 2am isn't much of a break IMO) is to get the Federal Requirement.
When traffic slows for extended periods, like during economic or seasonal down turns, or because traffic is lost to another railroad, they start to cut jobs. Since most of our jobs are unassigned, either pool service or extra board, what happens is called cutting the boards. They decide how many people they need on a particular board and reduce the number assigned to the board. It's done by seniority, the less senior people are "cut off" the board. They then "bump" less senior employees on other assignments/boards. If there is no place for them to go, they become furloughed, also known as being, "cut off."
When furloughed, they aren't active employees and can receive unemployment. Most will find other jobs, but can be recalled by the railroad. The last few rounds of ups and downs, some furloughed people decided not to come back when recalled. While the railroads pay well, those at the extreme bottom sometimes don't work as much or get bounced around a seniority district. They figure the pay isn't worth the hassle.
Because of the high rate of those who didn't come back, some railroads during the last big down turn had training and retention boards for some furloughed employees. The way it worked in my area, Instead of having assigned days off, the employee had two assigned days to work per week. The rest of the week was theirs, with some picking up other work during their days away from the railroad. While on these boards, they received a guarantee (in case they weren't used on their assigned days) and maintained their company provided health insurance.
Some times, during short lulls, the boards may turn slower and you get more time off between runs. (That hasn't happened recently.) Instead of just the required 10 hours off, you might get 30 or more hours off. (Once when working the extra board, I was off from Thursday night to Monday morning. It was the Thanksgiving Holiday to boot. That's almost unheard of. It happened because they added a bunch of manpower for a grain rush that didn't get as big as they thought.) Our boards and some road pools have a guarantee. (Not all railroads may have guaranteed boards and the amount of guarantee may vary between different railroads. It depends on the contracts in effect.) If you don't make a certain amount for the pay period, the company makes up the difference. Usually when they start paying a lot of guarantee, it's a sign they are thinking about cutting jobs.
Jeff: Thank for such a clear explanation of a rather complicated arrangement.
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Actually there is different Hours for Service for Passenger and Freight. Passenger Hours of Service are not as strict as the freight crew. Depends on the Carrier and there are minor variations between Passenger Carriers for the HOS (Hours Of Service). Passenger crews on type one jobs can work up to 14 days consecutive days before required to take 48 hours off. Passenger crew must have two 24 hour time periods before the 14 days cycle ends and all assignments must be a type 1.
Passenger crews on a type two jobs can only work 6 consecutive days before a mandatory 24 hour rest period and must have two 24 hour rest periods in a 14 day span. A type 2 job is any assignemt that signs up after 8pm and before 4am, or type one hours job that works past 10pm. Passenger crews have 8 hours undisturbed rest unless being called for work by the crew caller (dispatcher). There is also non conforming service too for passengers crews, which means a job or assignment that is not covered by HOS. Once on duty, passenger and freight crews are limited to 12 hours. The limbo time (time from the 12 hour limit to the tie up for off duty)still applies. One other difference with passenger still has split HOS, not sure if the freight crews still have this. Passenger crews can be respited with hours of service with a gap of 4 hours or more but must have access to an approved quiet room and food.
An example of a job with split HOS and what is called respite time would be a job I worked about a month ago where I signed up at noon time, worked a passenger train for 4 hours (road time) under HOS, had a 5 hour break (respite time), and worked a passenger for 5 hours back to my sign up terminal (road plus yarding time) under HOS. Total time on duty 14 hours total time under HOS 9 hours. This is also a type 2 assignment because of the hours it works.
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