BaltACD tree68 geomodelrailroader misses two important points: 1. Crews (engineers especially) must be qualified on the territory. They can't just be assigned willy-nilly to any route the railroad wants to send them on. Some old heads may have many miles on which they are qualified, but normally crews will work certain trips, as has already been described. 2. Hours of service laws are pretty specific on hours worked and required rest. A crew that works 12 hours will see at least 10 hours of rest, which I believe includes 8 hours of uninterrupted rest. Disclaimer - I volunteer on a tourist line. It's rare that we run into HOS issues due to our short runs and regular schedule. I'm familiar enough with HOS to stay out of trouble on our railroad, but when you get out on the Class 1's, things can get more complicated, with deadhead time, limbo time, and a host of other such considerations. Current HOS law requires 10 hours uninterrupted - which, if the crew was not notified to report on their 10 hour expiration means that they will then get a 2 hour notice to report for duty AFTER the 10 hours has expired. Deadheading to an assignment counts as work time for HOS purposes. Called on duty at A at 0100 with a two hour taxi ride to B to go to work, crew now has 10 hours to work from B. Getting on the train at B to go to Z, train gets to W and is tied down at 1300 on their HOS time. Transportation for the crew arrives at W at 1400 and the crew is transported to Z and ties up at the rest facility at 1500. They were On Duty for 12 hours A to W including the DH. They also get paid for the additional hour required to transport them from W to the rest facility - in doing this they have accumulated 60 minutes of 'Limbo Time'. The HOS law allows for 30 hours of Limbo Time for each employee per month. There are also crew start rules that are too involved to wade into.
tree68 geomodelrailroader misses two important points: 1. Crews (engineers especially) must be qualified on the territory. They can't just be assigned willy-nilly to any route the railroad wants to send them on. Some old heads may have many miles on which they are qualified, but normally crews will work certain trips, as has already been described. 2. Hours of service laws are pretty specific on hours worked and required rest. A crew that works 12 hours will see at least 10 hours of rest, which I believe includes 8 hours of uninterrupted rest. Disclaimer - I volunteer on a tourist line. It's rare that we run into HOS issues due to our short runs and regular schedule. I'm familiar enough with HOS to stay out of trouble on our railroad, but when you get out on the Class 1's, things can get more complicated, with deadhead time, limbo time, and a host of other such considerations.
1. Crews (engineers especially) must be qualified on the territory. They can't just be assigned willy-nilly to any route the railroad wants to send them on. Some old heads may have many miles on which they are qualified, but normally crews will work certain trips, as has already been described.
2. Hours of service laws are pretty specific on hours worked and required rest. A crew that works 12 hours will see at least 10 hours of rest, which I believe includes 8 hours of uninterrupted rest.
Disclaimer - I volunteer on a tourist line. It's rare that we run into HOS issues due to our short runs and regular schedule. I'm familiar enough with HOS to stay out of trouble on our railroad, but when you get out on the Class 1's, things can get more complicated, with deadhead time, limbo time, and a host of other such considerations.
Current HOS law requires 10 hours uninterrupted - which, if the crew was not notified to report on their 10 hour expiration means that they will then get a 2 hour notice to report for duty AFTER the 10 hours has expired.
Deadheading to an assignment counts as work time for HOS purposes. Called on duty at A at 0100 with a two hour taxi ride to B to go to work, crew now has 10 hours to work from B. Getting on the train at B to go to Z, train gets to W and is tied down at 1300 on their HOS time. Transportation for the crew arrives at W at 1400 and the crew is transported to Z and ties up at the rest facility at 1500. They were On Duty for 12 hours A to W including the DH. They also get paid for the additional hour required to transport them from W to the rest facility - in doing this they have accumulated 60 minutes of 'Limbo Time'. The HOS law allows for 30 hours of Limbo Time for each employee per month. There are also crew start rules that are too involved to wade into.
Crew in Balt's scenario is in duty a total of 14 hours. They would show as being relieved at 1300 hrs and released at 1500. Total limbo time would be 2 hours. Limbo time is all time between relieved and released times. They would tie up and be given undesturbed rest for 12 hours. The required 10 hours plus two extra hours for the time being in limbo.
There is a limit to both total hours worked within a month and total limbo time. The total hours worked, I believe it's 276 hours, will require an employee to be laid off the remainder of the month if they run into the limit. The limbo cap doesn't require an employee to be laid off after reaching the limit, but everytime the employee accrues limbo time beyond the cap the railroad can be fined by the FRA. Because of that, some railroads may require an employee to be laid off for the remainder of the month at a basic daily rate of pay.
Jeff
Electroliner 1935 Without asking for specific dollar amounts, when an engineer or conductor is assigned to a district or terminal, are they guaranteed a minimum income, or do they get zilch if there is insufficient traffic for them to get a trip? And what benefits do they get? Medical, Dental, Vision, Life insurance? Vacation? Also some short lines don't seem to have enough traffic to have more than 24 hours a week like a part time job. How does that work? Also, if one gets fuloughed, is there any income and/or benefits? Are they eligible for unemployment?
Without asking for specific dollar amounts, when an engineer or conductor is assigned to a district or terminal, are they guaranteed a minimum income, or do they get zilch if there is insufficient traffic for them to get a trip? And what benefits do they get? Medical, Dental, Vision, Life insurance? Vacation? Also some short lines don't seem to have enough traffic to have more than 24 hours a week like a part time job. How does that work? Also, if one gets fuloughed, is there any income and/or benefits? Are they eligible for unemployment?
Depends on the contracts (or whims of management at non-union railroads) in effect.
The unionized carriers have medical/dental/vision and vacation benefits. The unions also offer some supplemental benefits such as short/long term disability, life insurance, etc. The company's insurance benefits last for up to 3 or 4 months after the last time the employee worked when furloughed. If an employee is furloughed for two months and recalled, works three weeks and is furloughed again, the benefits clock resets.
Most, if not all trainmen's (conductor, brakeman, and switchmen) positions have a guarantee. Some engineer's positions (assigned yard and locals, extra/spare boards) have a guarantee, the road pool engineers don't. Again, this depends on contracts in effect.
The amount of guarantee varies. Some railroads have good guarantees and some don't. Some (like the Iowa Interstate RR) will guarantee 40 hours per week. How it's figured by time can also vary. It can be weekly, by the half (of the month), or by the month.
Miserable. Most of them are OIFR
SFbrkmn Miserable. Most of them are OIFR
Translate OIFR please.
Off In Force Reduction is being on the furlogh board. This is the industry term for being out of work
SFbrkmn Off In Force Reduction is being on the furlogh board. This is the industry term for being out of work
I read on another site, BNSF had sent a letter to all those trainmen with less than 3 years seniority to return their company eqiupment, specifically the electronic items.
A note. There is a clause in the contracts that furloughed trainmen with less than 3 years seniority who haven't worked for one year (365 days) can be dropped from the seniority rosters. That is, they won't be recalled and are in effect, terminated.
I would say that letter is pretty ominious as to what they feel their forseeable manpower needs are.
I'm sorry for any pain I may have caused by asking.. Bummer.! This is not a fun time for too many people. Hope traffic and work return soon.
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