Union Pacific had set up a series of run-through trains with Conrail, CN, NS and CSX which were carrying traffic between the Midwest and South. The other carriers were given trackage rights to Salem, Illinois were the crews changed. I have read that these trains were annulled due to the implementation of PSR and that these trains were sent to the A&S yard in East St. Louis where the traffic was switched between carriers.
Would this be an isolated example, or has PSR led to fewer working agreements between railroads ?
As an outsider looking in, I would say that coordination among railroads has increased over the last couple of decades, although I don't know if that's related to PSR or if PSR has slowed down or reversed that process. Directional running agreements (for example) between CN and CP remain in place, and more often than not, trains around here are foreign powered, suggesting that there's a fair amount of "working together" going on.
UP and CSX still interchange stack trains at Salem for Mexican bound autoparts from the Detroit area and vice versa.
Symbols:
Q131 DET(CSAO Livernois)-Salem
Q132 Salem-DET
I've regularly noticed NS-to-BNSF trains (usually with BNSF power) waiting to complete a crew change at 47th Street in Chicago.
Thanks guys! My concerns are allayed.
Good to know Salem is still open for interchange.
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