Precision Scheduled Railroading in the Public Mind?

Precision Scheduled Capitalism.

- Crank

Though I'm no fan of 'Vice'....it's a fair article. 20 years ago, I posted on that other popular train site asking Why are we having more derailments when the Promise from the Railroads regarding Centralization would result in safer operations.  I was attacked from the Foamers - according to them: "It's a Railroad - therefore It can Never be at fault".

Jon:

I’d characterize it as a fair assessment. I spent 40 years as a rail shipper and “experienced” psr on CN, CP and CSX. KCS, UP and and NS were in the early stages of their psr implementations at the point I retired.

The ONLY psr implementation I experienced that actually improved service was with CN. All the others resulted in service meltdowns that, while eventually resolved, never returned service to the level it had been prior to psr - kind of analogous to “three steps back and two steps forward”.

Additionally, under psr, shipper costs ALWAYS increase. Demurrage costs, railcar storage costs, inventory costs, rail fleet costs such as both rental and maintenance and, of course, the freight rates themselves. Some of these like fleet rental, maintenance and inventory are directly related to the poorer service.

If you regularly watch any of the Virtual Railfan webcams, you cannot help but notice long trains parked for hours and, in many cases blocking public grade crossings. The eastern approach to NS’ Elkhart, IN yard regularly has trains stopped and blocking the crossing by the New York Central Museum for up to two hours at a time. Additionally, the longer trains - even if they are moving - simply take longer to clear a crossing. The CSX main line between Cincinnati and Louisville runs down the middle of a Main Street in downtown LaGrange, KY and it is not at all unusual for a slow moving CSX train to foul the street for 11-12 minutes. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t “call out” the UP spokesperson’s statistical BS that fewer, longer trains reduces the likelihood of an accident. If this doesn’t fall under  “lies, d*** lies and statistics”, nothing does.

Although I’m no longer actively in the industry, I am still acutely aware of operational and crew related issues involving at least one of the Class 1’s that never seem to come up during Q and A with the analysts during quarterly earnings calls.  

While the rhetoric in the Vice article may be a tad overblown; I agree with the anonymous rail workers who claim that safety is being compromised before the altar of “efficiencies”. This will all end badly at some point and I fully expect the  Wall Street and management folks who really are responsible for creating this singular cost focused atmosphere will again manage to dodge their responsibility. The one individual who SHOULD have been held criminally and financially liable for the Lac Megantic disaster - Ed Burkhart - was never charged or tried despite the corners that were being cut under his leadership and direction.

Curt

I wouldn't consider this fair, it was one sided pro union.  Yes there's some truth to it but it was really slanted.  Remember there's two sides to every story and we only got one in this article.

Is there not a number or website for people to whistle blow a problem?

PSR is a lot more in the public eye than most realize because it is very seldom mentioned explicitly has PSR when people complain about it. Through school internships that I have had, I have spent a lot of time researching complaints about railroads from the public.

There are a lot of people out there who have realized that they are spending much more time sitting at crossing gates and at times there have been reports of ambulances and other emergency vehicles being delayed 10-15 minutes waiting for the train to pass the one crossing in town. Nearly every Congressional hearing about rail there is usually one question or so about the length of freight trains and there have been some proposals to impose federal limits on the length of trains and some states have even explored the option of doing so.

As for the article itself, it is very pro-Union, at the end of the day I think we all know that rail is the safest and most efficient way to transport materials. One train derailment just so happens to get a lot more press than the thousands of tractor-trailers that are involved in collisions every year.

@Dominic Mazoch posted:

Is there not a number or website for people to whistle blow a problem?

Dominic:

Rather than complaining anonymously to the internet press; what should be happening is the Brotherhoods documenting these concerns and reporting them to the FRA with copies to the STB. If the FRA finds the “fire where smoke has been reported”; those reporting these deficiencies would, theoretically at least, be protected under whistle blower laws.

Gary; to your comment. The railroads and Wall Street virtually “own” the trade press. I will assure you the stories they print are just as slanted and one sided toward the management / investment community perspective as you believe this Vice article to be slanted toward the Brotherhoods.

Curt

On one hand, longer freights is a good sign for the industry... but I worry that drivers will soon fear getting stuck at the grade crossing, and start darting around the gates more than they already do.

And I worry about vandalism of the safety gear.  If a car sits unguarded in a yard long enough to get "tagged" with the Mona Lisa, then it is also sitting unguarded long enough to be vandalized.   There's only so much information that Hot Box Detectors can pass along.

Jon

Hard to say if the article is accurate. Especially as a civilian. I know the CSX rails around here underwent a lot of repair in the last 5 years. I think they were replacing ties. I just know it made for smoother crossings for me in my car. The rails owned by Youngstown and Southeastern are a little bit shocking but the traffic is significantly less. My understanding is they mostly store empty cars anyway. I think they service a fuel depot, construction supply company, and a metal coating facility. All of those involve hazardous material but the traffic is low.

I do think this isn't a railroad thing. This seems to be in general. The aim seems to be to squeeze blood from the rock at every one of my last three jobs (all manufacturing). That's not to get off topic. That's just to say this is a bigger problem.

Railroads have made some enormous explosions though. I've seen the videos on Youtube. The article is right...one or two of those events and congress will do what they do best.