UPS bullet train

[passengerfan]

I'm just sitting back waiting for the UP shippers meeting in San Francisco tomorrow to end and see where the chips will fall. UP thinks this meeting will solve all of their west coast problems, I'll bet when the meeting adjourns their will be plenty of red faced UP officials exiting the meeting and adjourning to the nearest bar. And when they get back to Omaha I doubt any of them will be able to sit down after the Butt chewing they will receive. And who will benefit fronm this why BNSF and deservedly so. Any bets that the UP will not only lose most of the UPS business they had but probably will lose the J.B. Hunt and Schnieder as well. I know for a fact that two of the container lines are more than displeased with UP and will announce the names after the meeting. If as I suspect they lose these two container lines than UP will be down about 1/3 of that business. I don't think the the shareholders will put up with continued management meltdown much longer. I will report on the monday meeting just as soon as there is a definite word on the outcome.

[passengerfan]

I'm just sitting back waiting for the UP shippers meeting in San Francisco tomorrow to end and see where the chips will fall. UP thinks this meeting will solve all of their west coast problems, I'll bet when the meeting adjourns their will be plenty of red faced UP officials exiting the meeting and adjourning to the nearest bar. And when they get back to Omaha I doubt any of them will be able to sit down after the Butt chewing they will receive. And who will benefit fronm this why BNSF and deservedly so. Any bets that the UP will not only lose most of the UPS business they had but probably will lose the J.B. Hunt and Schnieder as well. I know for a fact that two of the container lines are more than displeased with UP and will announce the names after the meeting. If as I suspect they lose these two container lines than UP will be down about 1/3 of that business. I don't think the the shareholders will put up with continued management meltdown much longer. I will report on the monday meeting just as soon as there is a definite word on the outcome.

[Modelcar]

....So what is to happen to that business.....From what I have read UP has given up on the contract and stopped it. Anyone have an update...?

[Modelcar]

....So what is to happen to that business.....From what I have read UP has given up on the contract and stopped it. Anyone have an update...?

[Anonymous]

Folks, here are the facts.
BNSF said that if UPS wanted a high speed premium train than they should pay for it.
U.P. said we are willing to run this train for a lot lower price than BNSF and if we do good with this, then we want more of the U.P.S. business from BNSF.
UPRR even ran the train on a large portion of the BNSF.
BNSF said so long to the train.
UPRR then as always under estimated the amount of crews and the many trains that would have to be delayed to run the train. Then they under estimated the crews that would take early retirement and leave them without crews to even run their basic everyday trains. This on top of the fact that every RR has a power shortage right now.
When the UPS asked the BNSF if they would run the train they said no with good reason as we are running a full slate now without the extra hassle.

[Anonymous]

Folks, here are the facts.
BNSF said that if UPS wanted a high speed premium train than they should pay for it.
U.P. said we are willing to run this train for a lot lower price than BNSF and if we do good with this, then we want more of the U.P.S. business from BNSF.
UPRR even ran the train on a large portion of the BNSF.
BNSF said so long to the train.
UPRR then as always under estimated the amount of crews and the many trains that would have to be delayed to run the train. Then they under estimated the crews that would take early retirement and leave them without crews to even run their basic everyday trains. This on top of the fact that every RR has a power shortage right now.
When the UPS asked the BNSF if they would run the train they said no with good reason as we are running a full slate now without the extra hassle.

[JDV5th]

So do you think UP bit off more than it can chew or are the struggles and schedule disruptions this train causes worth the extra business that might come their way?

[JDV5th]

So do you think UP bit off more than it can chew or are the struggles and schedule disruptions this train causes worth the extra business that might come their way?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

What happened on UP to the UPS bullet train sounds a lot like the problems mentioned in the TRAINS article on the "Big Train". It is probably good for morale but it takes too much effort and disruption to operate properly.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

What happened on UP to the UPS bullet train sounds a lot like the problems mentioned in the TRAINS article on the "Big Train". It is probably good for morale but it takes too much effort and disruption to operate properly.

[BaltACD]

As I recollect, when UP got the contract from UPS it was because UP uncercut BNSF on price.....obviously being the lowest bidder was not the wining equation for either of the parties.....I just love it when bean counters choke on their beans!

[BaltACD]

As I recollect, when UP got the contract from UPS it was because UP uncercut BNSF on price.....obviously being the lowest bidder was not the wining equation for either of the parties.....I just love it when bean counters choke on their beans!

[Anonymous]

Uh, I read in a UP announcement earlier this week that they killed this train. i.e. .. beyond just temporarily diverting it to truck, they killed it. It was too fast for their network caused too many overtakes and upset the network to too large of a degree. I saw that issue coming day 1, when the announced this service. It didn't fit the "Largely-single-track Sunset Route" and it didn't fit the "Chock-full-o-trains Central Corridor either."
Wither the "Brown Streak."

So, the million dollar question is, how much damage did it to UP network flows while it was alive?

[Anonymous]

Uh, I read in a UP announcement earlier this week that they killed this train. i.e. .. beyond just temporarily diverting it to truck, they killed it. It was too fast for their network caused too many overtakes and upset the network to too large of a degree. I saw that issue coming day 1, when the announced this service. It didn't fit the "Largely-single-track Sunset Route" and it didn't fit the "Chock-full-o-trains Central Corridor either."
Wither the "Brown Streak."

So, the million dollar question is, how much damage did it to UP network flows while it was alive?

[jeaton]

And in the news today... Will BNSF people say "We told you so"?

[jeaton]

And in the news today... Will BNSF people say "We told you so"?

[daveklepper]

I've heard that the UP diverted this traffic to trucks to avoid meltdown. Is this true? Has the problem already been resolved and the traffic restored to rail? Is it some other train? Could they improve capacity by upgrading the line through Las Vegas? Or is the problem in the yards or in the LA area? Dave Klepper

[daveklepper]

I've heard that the UP diverted this traffic to trucks to avoid meltdown. Is this true? Has the problem already been resolved and the traffic restored to rail? Is it some other train? Could they improve capacity by upgrading the line through Las Vegas? Or is the problem in the yards or in the LA area? Dave Klepper

[mvlandsw]

The speed limit for intermodal trains on the rebuilt B&O from Greenwich, Ohio to Chicago was 70 mph at the time of the Conrail takeover. It was later reduced to 60 mph. I don't believe it was ever raised above 60 mph on the ex Conrail track.

[mvlandsw]

The speed limit for intermodal trains on the rebuilt B&O from Greenwich, Ohio to Chicago was 70 mph at the time of the Conrail takeover. It was later reduced to 60 mph. I don't believe it was ever raised above 60 mph on the ex Conrail track.

[mvlandsw]

The speed limit on the rebuilt B&O from Greenwich, Ohio to Chicago was 70 mph for intermodal trains at the time of the Conrail takeover. It was later reduced to 60 mph. I don't believe it was ever raised above 60 on the ex conrail track.

[mvlandsw]

The speed limit on the rebuilt B&O from Greenwich, Ohio to Chicago was 70 mph for intermodal trains at the time of the Conrail takeover. It was later reduced to 60 mph. I don't believe it was ever raised above 60 on the ex conrail track.

[Anonymous]

As a conductor for the BNSF at Needles, CA we have been turning and burning like crazy since the U.P. did not hire enough trainmen to operate their trains. We have been running Z trains with almost all UPS trailers on the train.
Last week I worked a Z train that had 97 UPS trailers on it, and a couple of days after that there was a Z with 114 UPS trailers. This has all taken place since U.P. has ask several of their customers to ship by truck and they will pay the difference in costs. This was published in the Wall Street Journal. We are working every 8 to 11 hours for the Engineers and about every 10 to 15 hours for the conductors. Business is usually like this only during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Word has it that the U.P. is about to have another meltdown.

[Anonymous]

As a conductor for the BNSF at Needles, CA we have been turning and burning like crazy since the U.P. did not hire enough trainmen to operate their trains. We have been running Z trains with almost all UPS trailers on the train.
Last week I worked a Z train that had 97 UPS trailers on it, and a couple of days after that there was a Z with 114 UPS trailers. This has all taken place since U.P. has ask several of their customers to ship by truck and they will pay the difference in costs. This was published in the Wall Street Journal. We are working every 8 to 11 hours for the Engineers and about every 10 to 15 hours for the conductors. Business is usually like this only during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Word has it that the U.P. is about to have another meltdown.

[Modelcar]

....All the additional drivers and rigs to pay for to haul what a train carries....boy, that sounds like saving money...I know, schedule is the ruling feature on this run to keep a customer satisfied.

[Modelcar]

....All the additional drivers and rigs to pay for to haul what a train carries....boy, that sounds like saving money...I know, schedule is the ruling feature on this run to keep a customer satisfied.

[daveklepper]

The June issue of TRAINS said this or a similar train was replaced by trucking temporarily . Was this a mistake? Was it this train? Has the problem been resolved so the train is back? I sure do hope so! Dave Klepper

[daveklepper]

The June issue of TRAINS said this or a similar train was replaced by trucking temporarily . Was this a mistake? Was it this train? Has the problem been resolved so the train is back? I sure do hope so! Dave Klepper

[Anonymous]

so this train runs over the BNSF from KC to chicago...? approx. what time would it be moving through the princeton, IL area? princeton is maybe 60-70 miles east of galesburg.