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Precision Scheduled Railroading

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, December 13, 2015 2:20 PM

daveklepper

But, as Fred pointed outin his blog, the five-day transit time for the widgits means that the railroad has the capital costs of twelve railroad cars tied up in the serivce as opposed to eight for the three-day transit.  And twelve cars require regular maintenance and inspection instead of eight.

Absolutely - and I thought of that as I posted, but didn't mention it.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Euclid on Sunday, December 13, 2015 11:10 AM
According to this article, precision scheduling is intended to attract new business from shippers who use trucks because they are not satisfied to simply receive their shipments by rail every day no matter how long the transit time.   They want speed and consistency, rather than just consistency alone.
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Posted by daveklepper on Sunday, December 13, 2015 9:30 AM

But, as Fred pointed outin his blog, the five-day transit time for the widgits means that the railroad has the capital costs of twelve railroad cars tied up in the serivce as opposed to eight for the three-day transit.  And twelve cars require regular maintenance and inspection instead of eight.

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, December 12, 2015 10:37 PM

While true loose car railroading would probably appreciate shorter dwell times, I've generally heard that in most cases, it's not speed, but consistancy that the customers want.  If they expect a car full of widgets each day, it matters little if the cars are taking three days or five to make the transit - as long as they get a car every day.  

Simplistic example, but adds to what Balt wrote.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, December 12, 2015 8:01 PM

Paul_D_North_Jr

Don't know why cars have to consistently sit in a yard - on average - for over a day, when there's a train leaving in most directions every few hours.

- Paul North.  

For the most part - railroads schedule service on a daily basis.  While there may be multiple departures to desination cities like Chicago - with the multiple carriers and industrial areas that consititute 'Chicago', each departure will be destined to one of those particular markets; if sufficient traffic volume exists for one or more of the specific markets, additional sections may get authorized and operated.

Most industries that use rail trainsportation get a daily switch within a normally defined time window.  The industries don't want the railroads 'in their way' doing switching  at all hours of the day and/or night - they want their switching done within agreed upon windows.  These precepts are the basis of the loose car manifest network scheduling.

Bulk commodity unit trains march to their own drummer between loading point and destination.  Loading is dependent upon the Shippers ability to load (and some shippers load out to more than one carrier).  Unloading is dependent upon the Consignee's ability to unload (some consignee's must coordinate deliveries from more than one carrier).

Movement of all trains on a property are dependent upon having enough power for the tonnage and rested crews available at the scheduled times.

Pulling schedules, power and crews together while dealing with varying traffic volumes in different market segments that are all changing on a minute to minute, hour to hour, day to day and month to month basis is where the art and skills of operating a railroad network come into play.

 

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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Saturday, December 12, 2015 6:39 PM

You can some insight into what CN's part of the story would be at the "Railroad Performance Measures" website:

http://www.railroadpm.org/

Specifically, the CN page:

http://www.railroadpm.org/Performance%20Reports/CN.aspx 

Personally, the one I find most interesting is the Graph of "Terminal Dwell" (hours that a car sits in a yard between moves) over the last year: CN consistently beats all the others by an astounding margin (typically in the mid-teens), while the others range between 25 and 30 hours. 

Don't know why cars have to consistently sit in a yard - on average - for over a day, when there's a train leaving in most directions every few hours.

- Paul North.    

 

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Posted by K. P. Harrier on Saturday, December 12, 2015 9:41 AM

cx500 (12-11):

You brought up a real issue in life, the politics of operating methods, i.e., there are some than benefit by the status quo and they are willing to attack any that threaten their comfort zone.  I know someone that perceives a way to make this thread’s theme a totally irrelevant issue, but the railroads prefer the status quo, even if it is suicidal.  It is tantamount to arguing if the office walls should be painted light blue or a mild yellow when the office is on fire and burning down.  It is amazing how the most patriotic people are, in essence, the most unpatriotic ones by their actions.  The flaw in patriotism is that its power is subservient to the overwhelming and irresistible attraction of wealth.  What is even more troublesome is that that is not humanly possible to change.  In the meantime, painting the walls light blue or a mild yellow makes for a lively forum discussion.  But, it is just that it is getting so hard to breathe in here … Anybody have a gas mask?

Take care,

K.P.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- K.P.’s absolute “theorem” from early, early childhood that he has seen over and over and over again: Those that CAUSE a problem in the first place will act the most violently if questioned or exposed.

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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, December 11, 2015 8:17 PM

Railroads have had freight train schedules since Hector was a pup.  They try to maintain those schedules - in recent years 'Car Scheduling' has been added to the mix - they try to maintain those schedules also.

Depends upon who is answering the question as to how 'successfuly scheduled' each carrier is.

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Posted by cx500 on Friday, December 11, 2015 4:23 PM

The answer will very much depend on who you ask.  The philosophy tightens up the operation which is good.  It can also put the business in a straitjacket, without the flexibility to manage the inevitable glitch or traffic surge.  And that is not so good. 

Any story will have to consider statistics, and they can always be manipulated to fit the corporate story line.  Missed opportunities never appear in the numbers.  Alternatively there are lots of anecdotal stories to consider, often with their own agenda.  Current employees, whether union or management, risk their positions if they speak openly.

While it would certainly be interesting, I don't think the story can be written at the moment.

 

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Precision Scheduled Railroading
Posted by wetmary on Friday, December 11, 2015 2:44 PM

It would be interesting to know how PSR has worked on CN and CP; it would make a good cover story Mr. Wrinn.

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