Ok, this is going to be one of those extra long replies by RRspatch that I've probably gotten known for when I do bother to reply. But hey, I'm retired so I've got the time.
This is a story about BNSF, PSR lite and the Southwest division.
First some background -
The last five years of my railroad career I worked the Belen Terminal job 3rd shift. Belen is a major refueling and inspection point on the southern trans-con just south of Albuquerque. There are eight fueling and inspection tracks with four in each direction. They range from 8200' to 8500'. The four eastbound tracks have there pumps at the east-end and the four westbound tracks at the west-end. The whole setup dates back to the days when trains averaged between 6 and 8 thousand feet long and before distributed power. Trains with power on the end (or in the middle, more on that later) are fueled by tanker trucks. Belen has between 6 and 8 tanker trucks to do this.
Now just after I bid the job back in 2012 some management drone decided to start running "10K" (10,000' long) trains. This of course was followed by "12K' and in the end "16K" trains. Belen because of the limited number of tanker trucks can only handle two over 8K trains at a time. Locomotive placement on these trains varies by length. The 10K trains have 3 on the head-end and one on the rear (3x1). The 12K trains are 3x2 and the 16K are 4x3x2, that's right, three mid train. The power in the middle and at the end has to be fueled by tanker truck. I should add that there are other DP equipped trains such as coal, grain, ethanol and coiled steel that also need a tanker truck to fuel the rear units.
At first a handful of 10K trains per day wasn't a problem. The problems started when the bean counters said "lets start running 12K and 16K trains and a whole LOT more of them". I'm sure even the non railroaders out there can guess what happened next. Train crews dying on the HOS before they could get into Belen due to the terminal not being able to handle that many long trains back to back. This resulted in LOTS of dogcatchs (relief crews) and taxies being called to drag trains into the terminal. A few times it got so bad it basically melted down the Southwest division. The really bizarre part of this whole long story is this ... Yes it did cut "crew starts" by combining trains into long monster trains but at the same time it blew the number of dogcatch crews and taxies need through the roof. The whole thing is like squeezing a balloon at the crew start end and having it bulge out at the dogcatch end. This is the point where PSR proponents get to jump up and down waving their arms shouting about how they've cut crew starts. The truly funny part is that on BNSF (and I suspect other railroads as well) the "crew start" budget is separate from the "dogcatch" budget. So yes, it REALLY does look good on paper but operational wise not so good. The whole thing (PSR lite in BNSF's case) is a farce designed to please Wall Street and is basically making railroading a lot worse.
Since this is the Amtrak forum I'm sure there's been many cases of Amtrak stuck behind trains waiting to get through a terminal congested with monster trains or creeping along behind an underpowered 10K, 12K or 16K (or now maybe 20K) train. I'm sure A4 has taken a hit on the Gallup subdivision trying to get to Dalies to hang a left (to ABQ) due to an eastbound "clusterf**k" at Belen. But hey, like I said it REALLY looks good on paper .....
BTW - I have fellow dispatcher friends at Jacksonville (CSXT) who tell me the same thing. It's NOT working.
Happily retired since 6/4/17.
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just a freight train coming your way
No leaf clover ~ Metallica.