Western Railroad Discussion > what happens when the extra board times out?

The flooding along UP lines in the midwest is causing many diversions to other routes.  When the other route's extra board is exhausted and has run out of hours of service, what happens then? 

Can guys with regular jobs bid for more  work if they have hours available?  Do the UP (in this case) people from the original line work with a (BNSF, etc) pilot engineer or conductor?  Does the diversion agreement limit the number of detours the divert line will accept?

When I was working on Santa Fe then BNSF when the board runs dry they call anyone rested that is qualified, yard jobs and locals on their day off. One Christmas Eve I was called on my day off to work as fireman with a passenger qualified yard engineer that only had four hours to work since he had worked a daylight yard job earlier, to take Amtrak number four to Barstow, they were desperate. He tied up at exactly his hours of service, I had lots of time to work as I was fully rested when called but not passenger qualified. This was before Amtrak took over crewing their own trains.
JB



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/19 19:48 by 3rdswitch.

As stated previously, it depends on the labor agreement in force at that terminal but generally they will canvass other boards for qualified people who are not otherwise working and use them "off assignment" to fill vacancies.

Chico43 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Usually on properties with flow-back agreements
> there are provisions for employees with seniority
> in both crafts working in demoted status (engineer
> working as a conductor/ conductor working as a
> brakeman or yard helper) to be called to perform
> emergency extra work if qualified, rested and
> available.
>
> Also, there are provisions in some agreements
> that allow for making extra work available to
> those who want it and are qualified,rested and
> available.

> The bottom line is that you are required to
> protect service in the highest class of service that you hold
> seniority in if needed. If you are on a regular
> assignment with advertised rest days you are not
> required to answer the phone, but if you do the
> call is yours, and laying off on call will get you a notice of investigation.

How about instead of quoting someone elses comment just comment as then its much easier to read and content of your is still there but only it? Just an fyi trying to read threads.

I use to love when my old employer amtrak ran short of people. They would call me on my day off or off my regular job in would negotiate for a little more money, usually an extra job simple. I remember I one time the dispatcher was so desperate that I when out to rescue a train and ended up taking tickets in a t-shirt and jeans. Crew died and had to get the train from Sacramento to Oakland. Made a lot of casual Friday jokes on that run--it was Thursday, lol. Man that was a good paycheck.

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The-late-EMD wrote:

> They would call me on my day off or off my regular job in would negotiate for a little more money, usually an extra job simple. 

Much of the above sentence makes no sense.

Shouldn't the "in" be "I?"  What is "an extra job simple?"

 

He meant "job symbol," as in another start. When things get tight on Amtrak, there's plenty of money to be made, but also easier to get into a jackpot if you work trains, routes, or with crews that are not familiar to you. Conductors are supposed to be qualified on the routes they operate over, but that can go out the window when they run out of people. Not being the money-grubbing type, I just didn't answer the phone on my days off.

To help cope with additional traffic through the Kansas City terminal, the UP has recalled all furloughed employees and added pool turns and more staffing to extra boards. Nearly every engineer qualified employee is marked up running an engine, many of which have never run an engine since qualifying. They have also added dedicated dog catch crews to help bring in trains short on hours of service coming into KC via the Trenton Sub. To help get Heartland Service Unit trackage that is currently out of service back in service, the UP has also added 3 work trains working around the clock out of Falls City, NE. I have not yet heard of a planned reopening time as of yet being as I believe the Missouri River has yet to crest south of Omaha. 

Edited to add:  If staffing requirements still come up short, there is a possibility to have borrow outs come and fill any vacancies at least temporarily. That sort of thing has been done in the past to help alleviate shortages. The UP has also embargoed coal trains (both loaded and empty moves) to ease traffic congestion unless costumers have emergency need for coal. 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/19 01:54 by imrl.