by RRspatch
Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:58 am Mr. Spatch, from what I gather you "did this stuff for a living" much longer than did I. My career was eleven years with the MILW holding various non-Agreement positions. I "pulled the pin" to go into private practice as a CPA. The thought of relocating to Minneapolis, and being shuffled into some desk on the floor in an Accounting Bureau when the SOO bought the property from the Estate was "shivering".I spent 40 years in the industry (1977-2017) nineteen of them with Amtrak on the NEC (tower operator/train dispatcher) and twenty one years with BNSF as a train dispatcher. I therefore had the unique opportunity to see the industry from both the passenger side as well as the freight side. While BNSF hasn't gone full on stUPid with PSR they are to a limited extent doing what I call PSR lite.
"It was fun" when I hired on; long ceased to be that when I left Dec '81.
Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:58 am What I am at a complete loss to understand is why you are so interested in having Amtrak LD trains continue to interfere with the operations of your road (ATSF/BNSF I think) when they contribute essentially nothing to paying salaries and bills. Yet the advocacy community holds that the roads should plan their operations around the movement of the Amtrak trains. Your handle certainly suggests you have been a Train Dispatcher, and possibly you saw such first hand.Interesting that you mentioned paying salaries and bills. I remember a BNSF "town hall" meeting at the NOC here in Fort Worth with Matthew Rose (I'm sure you know who he is). At that meeting (attendance required) he stated that Amtrak trains were HOT and not to be delayed (among other topics). He went on to say that BNSF was out to get every penny of OT performance compensation that it could. I seem to think BNSF was one of the few (only?) railroads that went into this agreement with Amtrak. Now this town meeting was sometime in the mid 00's the "Amtrak trains are HOT" rule continued until I retired on June 4th, 2017. As far as I know it's still in effect. Strangely enough BNSF, which doesn't follow the worst parts of Pretty StUPid Railroading, doesn't seem to have a problem with Amtrak and has/had one of the best Amtrak OTP of the big four railroads. Most of the problems I see in the industry today are what I call "self inflected wounds" which are slowly killing the industry. The fact that there are calls for Congress to look into the effects of PSR are telling. These calls are NOT coming from Amtrak, it's supporters, railfans or readers of railroad.net but from the shippers, you know, the one's who pay the bills. I've seen several 10K, 12K and 16K trains tied down (parked) on the Clovis subdivision because the terminals were unable to handle them that quickly. Would you be upset if your container was sitting on a parked monster train as opposed to sailing through on an 8K train? But hey, those reduced crew starts look really nice, right?
Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:58 am Now if suddenly Amtrak was prepared to pay the full opportunity cost, i.e. what a road would make in profit, from the high priority Container train (I think that is a "Z" on the BNSF) that cannot be handled account Amtrak requirements of service, that would be a whole new ball game. But I give that "a Chinaman's Chance....".On BNSF "Z" trains (HOT intermodal trains laden with UPS, FEDEX and now Amazon containers) are allowed 70 MPH in most places and are generally powered up to between 3.0 and 4.0 HPT. It was not unusual to see either A3 or A4 "parting the waters" with several HOT Z trains chasing it. The biggest delay on the railroad to Z trains wasn't Amtrak but huge 16K trains plugging up terminals (PSR lite). We (dispatchers) said this wouldn't work and guess what, it doesn't. "Long Pools" combining two crew districts into one VERY long district is another PSR lite idea they came up with. It doesn't work either as "dogcatch" crews have ballooned. But hay, 16K trains and Long Pools look really good on paper. I have a friend of mine (another former Amtrak dispatcher) who works in Jacksonville. He tells me the same thing, PSR isn't working and is on some days bringing the railroad to it's knees. Stop believing the WSJ. It's NOT Amtrak that's causing problems.
Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 6:58 am disclaimer: author long UNP; previously long BNI, CSX, KSU, NSC. Sold account sector and equity overweight or tender offer.disclaimer: author long on RRB checks.
Now happily retired looking in from the outside. Most of my former co-workers now say "It just isn't fun anymore".
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.
Is just a freight train coming your way
No leaf clover ~ Metallica.