quote:Originally posted by Number 90:
Another game played by some car shops was foreign line car repair. The car inspectors at that location would inspect foreign line cars very carefully, especially if empty, and find a reason to send the cars to the rip track for repair at the AAR rate.
There is still a lot of this going on Tom. I manage a private railcar fleet for a chemical company and am constantly seeing what I would characterize as "repairs du jour". It seems like a particular railroad will find a certain repair to it's liking and wham, suddenly it seems like every third car transiting that carrier is being bad ordered for the exact same thing. When the WILD detectors were first rolled out, it seemed nearly every other car needed new wheels. Lately, the repair of choice seems to be truck side frames.
You can also tell when an FRA inspector has been making the rounds by seeing a sudden spike in BO's at particular yards on a given railroad.
Curt
