Western Railroad Discussion > KCS Operating Issues?

Over the past couple of months, I have noticed that KCS has been parking trains in sidings on the Meridian Speedway (lately being called The Meridian PARKway) between Shreveport, Louisiana and Meridian, Mississippi for days at a time.  Although traffic is sparse (about 12 trains daily), I have heard that there are just enough crews to move scheduled trains, and if any pertubations occur that delay any train enroute to a destination termimal, the train is parked until a crew can be dispatched to move it.  On the bright side, only general merchandise trains seem to be affected.  The six daily intermodal trains seem to be getting across the railroad without significant issues.  With no margin in crews, this can sometimes cause a substantial delay in providing a rested crew to move the parked trains.  I am curious if this is only an issue between Shreveport  and Meridian, or if observers on other parts of KCS have seen anything similar.  It just seems odd that with only 12 trains on a piece of railroad with capacity for triple that number, that trains are being parked for days at a time.  This can't be good for business or for customer relations.

Nothing that Precision Scheduled Railroading and Positive Train Control can't fix. Aside from that smoke, I commend KCS for turning this corridor into something other than an ICG corporate sleep apnea disorder. The parking lot syndrome matches the PSR thread previously posted. The right people will fix this issue. The wrong people will intensify the incompetence.

How is staffing on that piece of KCS?

No available crews = no trains

Posted from Android

I can tell you this the Kansas City Yard has been almost gridlock  the last 3-4 days I haven't seen it this full in some time lots of KCS traffic
that's taking several days to move through the yard.

IC1038west Wrote:
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> Nothing that Precision Scheduled Railroading 

Sounds more like they are implementing PSR!

spwolfmtn Wrote:
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> IC1038west Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nothing that Precision Scheduled Railroading 
>
> Sounds more like they are implementing PSR!

When nothing is moving, the location of everything can be identified with great precision (except maybe the crews who are in Crew Van Purgatory, engaged in an endless search of their train).

TAW

spwolfmtn Wrote:
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> IC1038west Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Nothing that Precision Scheduled Railroading 
>
> Sounds more like they are implementing PSR!

Or perhaps they have lots of traffic trying to connect with a railroad that is implementing PSR.
NS at Meridian, UP at KC.

If you have the EHH playbook on PSR one of the chapters covers holding / killing trains
on other railroads before they get on EHH lines.  Good way to phony your cars on line stats and
also lets you point finger at how screwed up the connecting RR is.

Saw it well played in Chicago when the fallen leader was wrecking the CP.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/06/18 04:15 by Englewood.

Everyone responding makes good points, and after thinking about the comments and more observations, I am reasonably sure that it's not due to traffic increases, PTC or Precision Railroading, but rather the lack of sufficient crews to operate trains on the Vicksburg, Meridian an Artesia Subs.  While I cannot be sure that crew availablilty is the specific reason for delays, it seems likely.  With only 12 trains daily, 8 of which are NS/UP trains, KCS doesn't seem to have the bench strength to dispatch relief crews if a train encounters delays of any length.  I personally have seen only KCS general merchandise trains parked for substantial periods.  The intermodal trains seem to be unaffected.