Western Railroad Discussion > UP mechanical layoffs

Jan. 16 story in the East Oregonian says workers at UP's Hinkle Rail Yard will be among the 140 UP mechanical department employees to be laid off in early February.  A UP spokeswoman declined to say how many Hinkle layoffs are pending.

I heard from a friend Roseville was laying off a number of people. but the person couldn't confirm what type of employees.  Anyone have further?

So far all I've heard of is middle-managers and mechanical employees. No TY&E so far that I know of. They are all probably too busy dog catching dead trains.

They have a pile of Dash 9’s looks like stored in Klamath Falls now. Unrelated but not something you like to see. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/19 18:06 by GN599.

UP is going to be so efficient that they will need fewer locomotuves handling much more traffic with fewer mechanical employees needed. just like their idols CN, CP and CSX and every train will run on time and never need a recrew.. 
Dick Eisfeller



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/19 07:55 by Dick.

Did someone whisper 'PSR'???
Keep it 'on the low'!


SantaFeRuss

Posted from Android

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> So far all I've heard of is middle-managers and
> mechanical employees. No TY&E so far that I know
> of. They are all probably too busy dog catching
> dead trains.

I remember talking to a mechanical dept. manager at West Colton few years ago. Despite TRAINS magazine touting how great GEVOs were at the time, the manager told me SD9043MACs and GEVOs spent more time in the shops compared to other locomotives. He considered C44ACs and their variants (C6044ACs, C44ACCTEs) to be the least shop-stricken. He even explained that new designs (like GEVOs at the time) always suffer from teething problems.

So if UP is laying off mechanical employees, I'll speculate that UP feel they are not needed, because they don't plan on purchasing new locomotives in the near future.

I wonder if some of the middle managers being let go are the ones who decided to mix MTUWCs with doublestacks and ZNPOAs with tank cars? Should I call them PSR pioneers? :-)

Let's see if the managers still standing will be any good?

PSR has idled 850 locos it was said

And on the BNSF side we are still running some of the oldest Dash 9’s around. Albeit with the stack boxes installed and ready for storage if need be, but still running. That says a lot too. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for the UP, them being our (BNSF) neighbor it’s a little concerning.

GN599 Wrote:
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> It will be interesting to see how this plays out
> for the UP, them being our (BNSF) neighbor it’s
> a little concerning.

That's no joke JF. The Stockton and Bakersfield subs are bookended by UP on both sides. We're going to get caught up in their meltdown regardless of how well our subs are run. It's not like our managers need any help screwing things up either. LOL

Well kinda explain why the SD70ACE-T4'S are being stored. They haven't trained anybody to work on them. So let's keep the old stuff running because the people we got left know how to fix them.

Posted from Android

Dick Wrote:
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> UP is going to be so efficient that they will need
> fewer locomotuves handling much more traffic with
> fewer mechanical employees needed. just like
> their idols CN, CP and CSX and every train will
> run on time and never need a recrew.. 
> Dick Eisfeller

Your statement is very close to the truth of the matter of whats going on....... all except the trains never needing a recrew, they have not figured that one out yet.


CS

>Dick Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> UP is going to be so efficient that they will need
> fewer locomotuves handling much more traffic with
> fewer mechanical employees needed. just like
> their idols CN, CP and CSX and every train will
> run on time and never need a recrew.. 
> Dick Eisfeller

<Your statement is very close to the truth of the matter of whats going on....... all except the trains never needing a recrew, they have not figured that one out yet.>


I was attempting to be sarcastic.  just not very good at that.
Dick
 

cchan006 Wrote:
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>
> So if UP is laying off mechanical employees, I'll
> speculate that UP feel they are not needed,
> because they don't plan on purchasing new
> locomotives in the near future.
>

There's more to it than that. In Roseville we are now turning a lot of power. Meaning, that if an inbound train has good power, i.e. good fuel levels and no rx's in the computer, it is left out in the yard to be moved directly to an outbound train. Power needing minor service and fuel is also done in the yard or at the subway. 

For those that don't know, the "subway" in Roseville is a pair of short tracks out in the yard with fuel, water and supplies for locomotives.

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> GN599 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It will be interesting to see how this plays
> out
> > for the UP, them being our (BNSF) neighbor
> it’s
> > a little concerning.
>
> That's no joke JF. The Stockton and Bakersfield
> subs are bookended by UP on both sides. We're
> going to get caught up in their meltdown
> regardless of how well our subs are run. It's not
> like our managers need any help screwing things up
> either. LOL

Yeah you guys have a tough enough time as it is!

How much impact does the doubling of time between inspections have for new power have on mechanical teams?

Posted from Android

We were told this week another 1000 locos were to be stored, less DP trains and RCO jobs would turn conventional as RCO equipment failed.

MP683 Wrote:
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> We were told this week another 1000 locos were to
> be stored, less DP trains and RCO jobs would turn
> conventional as RCO equipment failed.

That's what has already been happening in So Cal from what I hear. RCO to conventional sounds like positive news though.

trainjunkie Wrote:
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> That's what has already been happening in So Cal
> from what I hear. RCO to conventional sounds like
> positive news though.

A friend over at the UP mentioned this to me earlier but said they would be foreman only jobs with no helper. Doesn't sound like any productivity would be increased that way...