https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-revolution-sweeping-railroads-upends-how-america-moves-its-stuff-11554302583?mod=hp_lead_pos5
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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...
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Sadly the case. It showed up free on my FB news feed, but now he link requires paying. Maybe a subscriber can open it for us. It's a pretty good description of a hands-on struggle to implement PSR at the NS large classification yard in Decatur, IL.
I searched for the article's title or headline on Twitter and the second link I tried opened up the article just dandy. YMMV.
Where there's the will, there's a way.
Well maybe some who has read the article can tell us what specific operating details are related to applying PSR to a railroad. In other words, instead of hearing that PSR means that you value safety; I want to hear how you increase safety by applying PSR.
The article said nothing about safety. It was mostly about specific examples of the difficulties in applying any attempt at rescheduling trains and blocks to an existing network operation, without screwing up another set of schedules, or customer expectations. They used a specific example of a block of cars, and the effect on their dwell time in a yard.
My take-away: More generally, it shows that optimizing one movement risks negative effects on other operations, or the system as a whole - so it's complicated. Imagine that! Unlike the mostly linear operations of CN, CP, etc. People who think it's simple to do for a network operation like NS (or CSX) are not in touch with reality, IMHO, and this article shows why. There's a genuine effort being made, but it's like a spiderweb - touch one part, and all the others feel the effects to one degree or another.
Some of the rest of the article are the usual concerns about customer service - we've seen it all before.
- PDN.
Paul_D_North_Jr The article said nothing about safety. It was mostly about specific examples of the difficulties in applying any attempt at rescheduling trains and blocks to an existing network operation, without screwing up another set of schedules, or customer expectations. They used a specific example of a block of cars, and the effect on their dwell time in a yard. My take-away: More generally, it shows that optimizing one movement risks negative effects on other operations, or the system as a whole - so it's complicated. Imagine that! Unlike the mostly linear operations of CN, CP, etc. People who think it's simple to do for a network operation like NS (or CSX) are not in touch with reality, IMHO, and this article shows why. There's a genuine effort being made, but it's like a spiderweb - touch one part, and all the others feel the effects to one degree or another. Some of the rest of the article are the usual concerns about customer service - we've seen it all before. - PDN.
But I can see the difficulty with all the moving parts. It sounds like a good product would be a PSR computer CAD program. You just import your railroad, and the program tells you how to make it PSR.
"Railroads like Norfolk Southern are essentially 20,000 - mile outdoor assembly lines that have to contend with weather, broken tracks and derailments" - and not the litany of operating/dispatching blunders, communications fails, operating fiefdom building and random human errors?
The writer makes it sound like creating schedules is a new thing?
Critical Path scheduling and management has been around forevever; how you approach it is what's different.
PSR in today's world has become just another acronym in the litany of buzzword BS that the world has become. PSR means anything the person spouting it wants it to mean - Hunter Harrison's definition is not the definition all the other users of 'PSR' are operating their plants with.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD PSR in today's world has become just another acronym in the litany of buzzword BS that the world has become. PSR means anything the person spouting it wants it to mean - Hunter Harrison's definition is not the definition all the other users of 'PSR' are operating their plants with.
We could convince the world that PSR stands for Pink Spikey Roundhouses, and management would still use it as long as share prices keep going up!
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
mudchicken"Railroads like Norfolk Southern are essentially 20,000 - mile outdoor assembly lines that have to contend with weather, broken tracks and derailments" - and not the litany of operating/dispatching blunders, communications fails, operating fiefdom building and random human errors?
Sometimes it's a wonder the things run as well as they do . . .
Euclid . . . But I can see the difficulty with all the moving parts. It sounds like a good product would be a PSR computer CAD program. You just import your railroad, and the program tells you how to make it PSR.
I'd be very interested in what he has to say about PSR, whatever it might be.
Paul_D_North_Jr mudchicken "Railroads like Norfolk Southern are essentially 20,000 - mile outdoor assembly lines that have to contend with weather, broken tracks and derailments" - and not the litany of operating/dispatching blunders, communications fails, operating fiefdom building and random human errors? Then there are grade crossing collisions and trespasser fatalities as another disruptive force, beyond the control of the railroad. Around here it seems every couple weeks or so there's one of those on Norfolk Southern's Lehigh or Reading Lines. And let's not forget the bridge in Toledo that just fell on the NS tracks. Or late trains - from the same railroad or a connection - that miss their connections, which is more within the control of the railroad. Or equipment failure - anything from locomotives to brakes to signals of any kind. Sometimes it's a wonder the things run as well as they do . . . - PDN.
mudchicken "Railroads like Norfolk Southern are essentially 20,000 - mile outdoor assembly lines that have to contend with weather, broken tracks and derailments" - and not the litany of operating/dispatching blunders, communications fails, operating fiefdom building and random human errors?
Then there are grade crossing collisions and trespasser fatalities as another disruptive force, beyond the control of the railroad. Around here it seems every couple weeks or so there's one of those on Norfolk Southern's Lehigh or Reading Lines. And let's not forget the bridge in Toledo that just fell on the NS tracks. Or late trains - from the same railroad or a connection - that miss their connections, which is more within the control of the railroad. Or equipment failure - anything from locomotives to brakes to signals of any kind.
Defect detectors are a frequent 'monkey wrench' in operational fluidity. With the size trains being operated by Class 1's today - Once a train stops for any reason that requires some sort of inspection prior to resuming motion - figure one to two hours - at a minimum.
BaltACD Paul_D_North_Jr mudchicken "Railroads like Norfolk Southern are essentially 20,000 - mile outdoor assembly lines that have to contend with weather, broken tracks and derailments" - and not the litany of operating/dispatching blunders, communications fails, operating fiefdom building and random human errors? Then there are grade crossing collisions and trespasser fatalities as another disruptive force, beyond the control of the railroad. Around here it seems every couple weeks or so there's one of those on Norfolk Southern's Lehigh or Reading Lines. And let's not forget the bridge in Toledo that just fell on the NS tracks. Or late trains - from the same railroad or a connection - that miss their connections, which is more within the control of the railroad. Or equipment failure - anything from locomotives to brakes to signals of any kind. Sometimes it's a wonder the things run as well as they do . . .
Paul_D_North_Jr mudchicken "Railroads like Norfolk Southern are essentially 20,000 - mile outdoor assembly lines that have to contend with weather, broken tracks and derailments" - and not the litany of operating/dispatching blunders, communications fails, operating fiefdom building and random human errors? Then there are grade crossing collisions and trespasser fatalities as another disruptive force, beyond the control of the railroad. Around here it seems every couple weeks or so there's one of those on Norfolk Southern's Lehigh or Reading Lines. And let's not forget the bridge in Toledo that just fell on the NS tracks. Or late trains - from the same railroad or a connection - that miss their connections, which is more within the control of the railroad. Or equipment failure - anything from locomotives to brakes to signals of any kind. Sometimes it's a wonder the things run as well as they do . . .
It appears that to run a good PSR needs at the least alomst all of a route to be 2 main tracks with universal cross overs every 10 - 15 miles. That way the usual problems some that are list above will only hopefully delay only the effected train or maybe one or two others.
Having a crew needing to walk a 2 mile long train is just insane. If there are 2 tracks maybe sometimes another train on a second main can trouble shoot the problem and get the problem train moving. Does anyone know if that is SOP on the transcons? Also as well the CSX and NS double track sections in the east ?
BaltACD With the size trains being operated by Class 1's today - Once a train stops for any reason that requires some sort of inspection prior to resuming motion - figure one to two hours - at a minimum.
Trains stop on the UP West line fairly often. Sometimes 30 minutes; sometimes they "park" for several hours waiting for space in Proviso. I never see inspection walks. Or did your sentence mean only trains with a mechanical problem require an inspection?
charlie hebdo BaltACD With the size trains being operated by Class 1's today - Once a train stops for any reason that requires some sort of inspection prior to resuming motion - figure one to two hours - at a minimum. Trains stop on the UP West line fairly often. Sometimes 30 minutes; sometimes they "park" for several hours waiting for space in Proviso. I never see inspection walks. Or did your sentence mean only trains with a mechanical problem require an inspection?
Trains stopped due to congestion do not require inspections. Certain railroads may require the crew to walk as much of the train as possible if it is known the train will be halted for a long period of time, but this is not supposed to delay the train any further.
In certain cases the entire train must be inspected, usually after going into emergency. Changing a knuckle on a 10,000'+ train takes well over an hour, setting out a broken drawbar takes longer, and still longer if it is on the wrong end of the car.
Trains intentionally braked to a stop by their crew do not require inspection. Trains that go into emergency for whatever the reason, trains that get stopped by defect detecor activation all require inspection.
CSX rules when I retired required visual verification that ALL HAZMAT cars in the train were on the rail after a Emergency Brake application - no matter who or what initiated it.
In 98% of the occasions there is no assistance available to transport crew personnel. With today's trains reaching 15K feet in length - how fast can you walk Six miles - on Main Track ballast conditions, at night, with a brakeman's lantern, carrying your 'go pack' of common repair tools and supplies. A 'brisk' walk on stable surfaces with assured sightlines and footing is 4 MPH with walker having no mor responsibility than walking. The assured sightlines and footing do not exist in the inspection of a train as well as the requirement of actually inspecting aspects of the cars.
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