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Possible RailRunner app in North Dakota
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Greyhounds, I don't suppose you're up on revisions to the power brake law in recent years? 20 minutes for a pickup? With a two-man crew? Not today! Especially not in an icebox like Minot. Maybe if you have a switch engine and a carman to set the pickup, put air on it, and inspect it. Or a local has made it up. But if they're cold, dead cars and it's minus 20, you might be out there all night, too. The thought of breaking the train line on a perfectly good train on a subzero night is enough to make me want to quit this business and give you the railroad. A one hour hit is a reasonable expectation from the moment you start slowing the train down to the moment it's back to track speed. Some nights it will be three hours. I sure hope you're not doing this pickup off the main track or a CTC siding you need for other trains, because you'll be stopping all of them that are in the vicinity, too. <br /> <br />I wouldn't know about the economics of the equipment. The economics from the operating department's perspective are suspect. If I was the superintendent of that division, and someone proposed stopping anything other than a junk manifest to make this pickup, I'd be writing a letter saying I was no longer responsible for that train making schedule. Every pickup inserts uncertainty, and uncertainty means unreliability. Moves like this subordinate 98% of the freight in that train to the needs of 2% of the freight. I guess that might be OK if that 98% is all moving on a space-available rate and the customers don't care if the car gets there Tuesday or Wednesday. If it's freight moving on a premium rate, it's a terrible idea. <br /> <br />OS
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