time for the unions to step up

[mackb4]

greyhounds

Well, yes.  What is your point?  The most efficient system wins.  That's it.  Do you think rail management is any different than other management?  Do you think rail labor is any different than other labor?

 I could think of a lot of things to respond with,but it's pointless  

[greyhounds]

mackb4

 If the railroads didn't have the cost savings/tonnage effectiveness on their side,they would collapse ! 

Well, yes.  What is your point?  The most efficient system wins.  That's it.  Do you think rail management is any different than other management?  Do you think rail labor is any different than other labor?

[mackb4]

Ulrich

According to the numbers I've seen recently the railroads appear to have outstanding management. In various threads people come down on the management side as if they're a bunch of idiots who get in the way of running the railroad. All I can say is look at the numbers.

 You must be in management,or don't have a clue as to how the railroad works.

 I can remember when most of the management come from T&E and it worked great.Trains were built correctly out of the yards,all your paper work was right,and the trains run on time.

 Since the railroads went to the OST programs most all of this has fallen off.What's keeping the rail industry on the ups is business is good because of the cost effectiveness,and the hard working men and women getting the trains up and down the roads .

 If the railroads didn't have the cost savings/tonnage effectiveness on their side,they would collapse ! 

[Ulrich]

According to the numbers I've seen recently the railroads appear to have outstanding management. In various threads people come down on the management side as if they're a bunch of idiots who get in the way of running the railroad. All I can say is look at the numbers.

[Firelock76]

Take it from me boys, electronics can FAIL, and the more gee-whiz they are and the more people get addicted to them the more catastrophic the failure. 

Nothing beats the ol' brain housing group.

[henry6]

There is more than labor economics to removing the caboose. The cost of building or purchasing and the maintenance of the caboose is part as is the cost of time and fuel in setting the car into the train. Physical safety was at stake, too, in that a mile long train could have hundreds of feet of slack action that would whip a caboose into motion or slam it into a train in an emergency stop: this threw the crew around causing severe injuries. Actually, since the 80's especially, the unions have been very cooperative in new work rules and reduced crew sizes. Some of the innovations in modern railroading have in fact come from union labor and not from rail management. But today's investor mentality using computernomics (my new word!) thinks that a computer can do everything. Yes, sensors and beams and sonar waves and light readers and radar, etc., all help, another pair of eyes helps see what is happening and react to it. Time and motion studies (mostly through military research) also indicate that two people work off each other to make for a more productive and safe environment. Management today are often investors and not practitioners of the trade, in this case railroading, and are trying to reinvent the wheel by taking away from the procedures, quality, and labor that goes into that product.

[mackb4]

 I agree about railroad unions stepping up,but it's called modernization taking jobs.

 Every time a new gee- wiz idea pops up and it's introduced,it's sure to take a job no matter what industry it involves .

 When the power to form an organized strike was took away,the unions power and authority diminished.

  When the cabs were cut off 2-3 jobs (according to the road) on the cab moved to the head-end.There use to be an Engineer,Fireman and head brakeman on the lead.When I hired on there was an Engineer,conductor and two brakeman.Never thought I'd see an Engineer and conductor only.Now one person  WOW !

[chicagorails]

how many jobs were lost when caboose left. 2-4 ..safety 1st railroads not money 1st.. we cant loose any more jobs in this country...unions need to stop the hatcheting of jobs ...safety 1st dudes