CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

Understood re: ST’s ongoing role in the acquisition transition but is it wrong to infer that CSX believes it needs more operating personnel in Lawrence, Portland, and Waterville than ST has on the payroll in these locations as of 5/30/22?

I think it's safe to say that they need more personnel across the board.

johnpbarlow wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 10:35 am Understood re: ST’s ongoing role in the acquisition transition but is it wrong to infer that CSX believes it needs more operating personnel in Lawrence, Portland, and Waterville than ST has on the payroll in these locations as of 5/30/22?

Apologies I thought we were still on the "does the ST still exist" topic.

Certainly not wrong at all. I think the fact that Mr. Foote offered ANY ST employer (including those effected by PAS cuts) a job point blank speaks to the manpower shortage.

I also see on the CSX job opening web site that it’s offering New Hire bonuses to conductor applicants at Selkirk, W Springfield, and Framingham. Perhaps there will be some ST conductors that will move directly to CSX in southern New England perhaps exacerbating a PAS crew shortage in the short run?

Pretty much all the Class ones and larger regionals are hurting for crews right now as more and more T&E employees take early retirement, transfer to passenger rail or flat out quit and leave the industry.

The ownership and financial transaction close on 6/1. It may take many months before the operational and dispatch aspects change over from PAR to CSXT rules and procedures.

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It's very common when companies get taken over by others for employees to bail. It's human nature to fear change whether justified or not.

newpylong wrote: Its not typical to merge with entities of this size and complexity and flip the switch Day 1.

Agreed, I'm sure CSX has a master plan that sets dates for implementing changes over the next several years. All we can do is observe.

hrsn wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 4:53 pm

neman2 wrote: ↑Sun May 29, 2022 4:08 pm Two comments I have- 1) What do they use a Hummer for? 2) Somebody should tell someone about blurring license plate images on the internet.

Remember, they're not RR vehicles, but airport (my guess). So the Hummer is for the terrorists, and the license plates on the 2014 Explorers are probably no longer good. And, as I learned to my amusement, NY police have to have real license plates numbers, front and back. http://www.statetrooperplates.com/newyork.html

That's surprising, as when I was in college in NY in the 80's, their plates just said POLICE.

I know in Maine, the cops have real plates, but they're a special Municipal series.

Pan Am had a bunch of those humvees for a few years. They used a few at Waterville and Rigby to shuttle crews as well as the yard master around. But as others have pointed out, parts aren't the easiest to come by. The last time I saw one, was at Waterville when they were scrapping the EMD's. And it was under the pile of assorted GP40 components.
As for the job openings, those are the same ones that have been posted for a while under the Pan Am website. By the looks they want to use the same union contract, which it will be hard to hire anyone new when the starting wage is a bit over $25 a hour and after four years you will only be making $34-35. Several railroads in the area are paying $36 as a starting wage in comparison to the $25 Pan Am/CSX is offering. A lot of the senior guys have bailed and many of the younger guys have scattered like cockroaches when you turn on the lights in a cheap motel room in the past few months. The labor shortage as a result of the sale is so bad, that when someone mentions the term "spare board" it brings back visions of the good ol'days when they could actually recrew trains rather than letting them sit for days at a time. And if what I am hearing is true, CSX will be pushing the attendance policy they have used elsewhere. So if you are in working for CSX, there will be plenty of openings...

neman2 wrote: ↑Mon May 30, 2022 12:59 pm It's very common when companies get taken over by others for employees to bail. It's human nature to fear change whether justified or not.

Yes and no. In a union environment where seniority is key to have any quality of life, people tend to stay put. Anyone who leaves risks losing any grandfather rights to the division/region/location/job classification.

That may be the case in a simple transaction where company A is taking over company B, which has a single location. It gets much more complicated when it comes to railroads. Plenty of folks with 10-20 years of experience have left Pan Am over the past few years, throwing their seniority on the ST down the drain for greener pastures: Amtrak or Commuter Rail being main ones.

It's really all going to come down to how and what rights are honored on both CSX and PAS (after GWI signs operating agreements). Many haven't bothered to stay around to find out.

The guys up North clearly don't have the same options as those say south of Portland, where you can work for Amtrak, Keolis, CT Rail, etc, not to mention way more non railroad companies.

Q: do the VRS trackage rights between WRJ and Bellows Falls start June 1 or are they delayed until B&E is operating PAS? I’m guessing the latter…

I would guess trackage rights would start right away, as CSX will temporarily control PAS, right?

I don't think so, not until the GWI takeover has consummated. Those rights were agreed by all parties to negate any possible monopoly of the GWI being the sole Eastern/Southern interchange gateway for VRS. As they have not done so, there is no need for the rights to begin yet, and they probably can't by agreement.