...Four "Class 1" companies: https://railfan.com/stb-to-require-...RW0S0_qgW0HWcCQiXbtSKy8sMIlrLFtYk8x8v-3S4_y9s
A lot of bloviating from both sides. I was talking to a former coworker today and that Class I just hired 10 people in a terminal that only has 3 regular train crews and a couple yard jobs. They no longer protect any road trains with pool crews. He hasn't worked in 18 days but gets paid to sit on the extra board. But there's a manpower shortage...
Interesting. I wonder how many fix plans will have 1-man crews as part of the fix? The class 1s seem to all beat that drum.
One Class I CEO said he could solve the labor shortage in 1 minute. Let him run 1 man crew, then there would be plenty of conductors. That's all well and good, except it doesn't resolve the shortage of engineers...
I saw how he slid that into the conversation. As I recall, that was the CSX representative. In the back of my mind, after their manipulations are done, I keep thinking one man crews is their end goal all along.
Good luck when you have a break in two, broken knuckle, or even air hoses that come apart and no one to walk the train to set them back up! Gotta' have a local section guy come out to help, and hope it's in a convenient place!
The plan that was always talked about was that conductor "utility" personnel would have a truck and be stationed every 50-100 miles to handle such events.
Don't forget - the truck will be broken down and/or out of fuel and no fuel available. Suspect that will also require any driver of such a truck to get a CDL.
The aim of PSR as it has been implemented on the carriers that have adopted it has always been to reduce capacity, increase rate and thus get larger profits on a smaller volume of traffic being handled. The financial reports the carriers are releasing they are crowing about increased profits on decreased traffic levels.
Who's to say the carrier's end game is not autonomous trains? 1-man crews might just be a stepping stone to remote control/autonomous trains.
Sounds as though they are trying to find the ultimate way of making money- doing nothing, yet getting paid....
