CSX Dispatching getting reogranized

[Anonymous]

CSX is going to decentralize the Jacksonville, FL office by sending a number of desks to different locations as follows: The former Detroit Division, now incorporated into the Chicago Division will be relocated to Chicago, IL and work out of the same office as the current CSX Chicago dispatchers. This building is also where IHB has dispatchers. The Great Lakes Division is being consolidated in Indianapolis and several of the desks that dispatch out of JAX will move north, mainly the Chicago Line between Willard and Chicago. The Baltimore Division dispatchers will relocate to Albany, NY. I don't know the exact number of desks for dispatchers it will affect. However, this is a big shake up for Jacksonville and right now nothing is finalized as to when or how the move will be made. Apparently the Board of Trustees didn't like last year's hurricane outbreak and its effect on Florida. The decision was made to decentralize to protect the railroad from a catastrophic failure of the entire system due to a natural disaster or terrorist attack. This way all the eggs are not in one basket so to speak.

Luckily for myself it may help my cause to be in Indianapolis as not everyone will follow the jobs out of Jacksonville and may provide more job opportunities for those of us up north. I just really feel bad for the folks in Jacksonville who have to suffer through a major disruption.

[jeaton]

Nate

Read somewhere that a current weather cycle, one that usually lasts for many years, is producing more hurricanes. May not be a bad move to get out of Jax, but I wonder if it costs a bundle. Someone here may have a better answer, but I think a change of dispatch location requires putting up a duplicate facility at the new location.

It should be interesting.

Jay

[Anonymous]

Jay,

CSX already has most of the equipment and space to move the number of dispatchers to the other three locations. Jacksonville will still be the corporate and transportation headquarters; it's just that the dispatching will become regionalized. So, JAX will dispatch the southeastern part of the country where CSX has control. I've also been to the JAX facility and it's actually in a smaller building than the other facilities. The Indianapolis office is also the Great Lakes Division headquarters and is in a very large 5 story warehouse that was converted.

[mudchicken]

All the so called "efficiency experts" and consultants that forced the centralization in the '80's and '90's in the the name of "cost efficiency" to appease the Wall Street trash ought to pay for the dispersion.

A prudent move that is long overdue.

[Anonymous]

Hey pal, they can tell you to, "Watch the signal." from ANYWHERE. 8^(

[tree68]

The who and where of CSX dispatching came up in a local discussion not long ago, so I talked with our local trainmaster. The Selkirk (Albany), Indianapolis, and Chicago DS offices were CR and cover mostly the former CR lines. The lines that were CSX in the first place were being covered out of JAX. When I visited Michigan not long ago I found it odd that JAX was dispatching MI lines when there was an office so much closer (Indianapolis). Now it makes sense to me, although I agree with the decentralization concept. Many operations - not just railroads - have discovered that centralization is not always the answer...

The biggest issue facing CSX is probably technological - rehoming their communications to the new DS offices. It not a small, nor simple, task.

[Anonymous]

Uh oh. Now the dispatchers are going to have to get out of the office and learn their territories, since they'll be closer . . .

Old Timer

[BaltACD]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Old Timer

Uh oh. Now the dispatchers are going to have to get out of the office and learn their territories, since they'll be closer . . .

Old Timer

Not if management won't pay for it.....and they won't..

[Chris30]

With the conversion that CSX is making, will each dispatching facility have the ability to cover for other dispatching facilities in the event of an emergency/bad weather??

CC

[SALfan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Old Timer

Uh oh. Now the dispatchers are going to have to get out of the office and learn their territories, since they'll be closer . . .

Old Timer

That would be the sensible, rational thing to do. It would both make the dispatchers' job easier and allow them to make better decisions, thereby moving the trains faster. Unfortunately, because it is the sensible and rational thing to do, that's what management won't do.

[ValleyX]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Old Timer

Uh oh. Now the dispatchers are going to have to get out of the office and learn their territories, since they'll be closer . . .

Old Timer

No, that'd mess too much with the legendary "BIG PICTURE" that we've all heard about but never seen and also the notion that it's all flat and straight up on the board (Computer screen)[:D]

[jeaton]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mark_W._Hemphill

Ah! That would explain why when we hear "We're pulling right now, dispatcher!" the train doesn't hit the OS 50 feet away for another 30 minutes.

But if they say it often enough, it becomes true, doesn't it?

[mvlandsw]

A dispatcher once told me he had been shown the "Big Picture" and it was frightening.

[ValleyX]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mark_W._Hemphill

Ah! That would explain why when we hear "We're pulling right now, dispatcher!" the train doesn't hit the OS 50 feet away for another 30 minutes.

They must have been laying back a little further away than fifty feet. Thirty minutes? That IS a long time, I'd best say no more.

[Chris30]

They never said what they were pulling!

CC

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tree68

The biggest issue facing CSX is probably technological - rehoming their communications to the new DS offices. It not a small, nor simple, task.

I would think the reverse. These days it is commonplace for a mission-critical communications network to have multiple redundant paths from here to there. So they give the 4 (or however many) dispatching centers the ability to access each others' databases and radio base stations. MCI or Sprint will happily provide the datalinks from here to there, it only takes money.

So if a hurricane hits Jax, no problem. You just tell your overworked dispatchers in Albany to handle the load. (You know, the same way that Geordi can run Engineering from the bridge of the Enterprise, like that.)

Oh yeah, then there is the problem of staffing, training, contracts, union agreements, and related nightmares for the additional workload.

No, I don't think technology will be their biggest hurdle. Not by a long shot.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

All the so called "efficiency experts" and consultants that forced the centralization in the '80's and '90's in the the name of "cost efficiency" to appease the Wall Street trash ought to pay for the dispersion.

A prudent move that is long overdue.

Hear, Hear...

Now if they could just let the DS come out and ride the territory a few times, we'd be on our way...

LC

[Anonymous]

Talk about disruptive, Most of these dispatchers were forced to move to JAX to preserve their jobs before, then have to work in the "DEATH STAR" as the JAX center became known due to the number of deaths there. This was 1 of CSX's real bungles that never worked right. It seems it is a little late to try to fix it now after all the train delays it has caused for years...

[:(] THE HOGGER

[Anonymous]

WELL !!!!!!!
I just followed the thread & it is easy to see that you folks are not at all familiar with the CSX or the BIG PICTURE. Do you have any idea how much the JAX DISPATCH CENTER fiasco cost to date?? It is impossible to get a staight answer but I can tell you that they could have left the dispatchers alone & layed a lot of double track that we really needed for what it cost.. I have brought up the idea of MISSION-CRITICAL SYSTEMS & COMMUNICATIONS to several top executives, including presidentes, in the past and I got a "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT" response, same for "REDUNDANT SYSTEMS/COMMUNICATIONS".
I have had several dispatchers & techees ride with me on my trains, not learning the road" but escaping the weather to get back home in the north when FL weather kept all the planes from flying & you would not believe the stories I've heard.
CSX believes that what ever they try to do & no matter how bad an idea they find it to be they will keep throwing $ at it till it looks like it works so they will never have to admit they made a mistake.. Glad to be gone because if I could have seen THE BIG PICTURE I am sure it would have scared me to death before I could retire...
THE HOGGER

[Anonymous]

MARK_W_HEMPHILL,
Read my posts. There is a lot you need to learn about the CSX.

THE HOGGER

[Anonymous]

I generally agree that the people who tell other people to pull the levers ought to have some idea of what lever-pulling entails.

But I'm confused: I have not heard of the same kind of trouble coming out of the BNSF war room in Ft. Worth.

Opinion? Is BNSF dumb, too? Or just lucky???

[Anonymous]

The reason it took them so long to get moving was that the communications failed & the dispatcher could not tell them how many trains they would be there for so when they go a signal they had to go back & start their engines back up before they could move the train. CSX forgot to tell the dispatchers that we were required to kill all but 1 engine when stopped..

THE HOGGER

[agdocsouter]

Anyway we can get Rumsfield and the D.O.D. to read this "train" of thought. And we have an ex CSX C.E.O. running the Dept of Treasury. OH boy.
/s/ doc