Western Railroad Discussion > PSR

PSR...roughly defined is, delivering Yesterday's freight the day after Tomorrow. And, while gutting, today's and tomorrow's assets, deferred maintenance (of course) and, cutting TE&Y AND Management employees to the maximum extent possible! And, having worked on "Both sides of the Fence, of TE&Y, and, management," and now safely retired (i.e. there's nothing anybody can do to ME!!!), but, having many friends on both sides of said Fence...well...I know it for what it is.
And it is simply this...it's going back to to the 1960s/1970 era and in the new paradigm , bowing down like whores...unto Wall Street!!!
And, living quarter-to-quarter like "Good Boys" As Wall Street WANTS...you CEOS...to do. As, "if YOU can't do it, We will find somebody who can!!!" Oh, how afraid how you CEOs...must be!!! And all other management!
And finally, the mighty, privately-owned BNSF under Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, finally feeling the squeeze?!? As finally, he is feeling that pressure, and a keen interest in PSR?!? Hey? Yes! And one of his Vice Chairmen, one of the Heir Apparents...the main reason that former Executive Chairman Matt Rose of BNSF essentially said "To HELL with this!!!" And retired early, as Robert Krebs did before him. That'd not abide by the Sreet and by PSR, as all of you lurking Wall Street ANALYSTS...have demanded ...of every Class One!!! The KCS being the most recent to Fall!!!
And now, with the fall of Matt Rose, finally, the BNSF!!
And I hope that you Activist Investors & Stock Analysts are proud (but not too close to your own retirement!) with your Short -Term, Simplistic gains. I'm trying to figure out how & when the right moment is-to DIVEST MYSELF OF ANY & ALL RR Stocks!!! Including, yes, the large amount in my 401K.
And as YE shout for total Automation, as the KCS Chief Innovation Officer is, I watched an interesting talk about such on C-SPAN2 BOOK TV about Robots, and guess what?!? Within about the same time that RR Automation occurs (providing that such is even made LEGAL?!?), your jobs, stock analysts, will have already been automated!!!
Which reminds me of the Bible Verse: "YE shall shall REAP which YE shall SOW." Indeed! And Praise God! And so shall you Evil ones, in the name of Short-Term Profits, at the expense of the long!

Posted from Android



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/19 18:29 by Red.

And, as one intelligent commentator said of Precision Scheduled...Railroading, it's neither Precision nor Scheduled! It's simply a cost-cutting scheme, and to repeat, a return to the 1960s/1970s Era of stripping employees and assets. Stripping double tracks (where such exist still), sidings, locomotives, and employees of every stripe!!!
And, I know employees of every stripe, and have rubbed shoulders, and have worked alongside, under, and over them all!
And still keep up with them all.
And gone are the so-called Quality-of-Life Initiatives for TE&Y (except those forced into law, thank GOD, by both the FRA, and, Congress, and, LOL!!!...not a damn thing you Stock analyst/Activist...Investor Types...can do about it, such as Undisturbed Crew REST, and such basic things such as that for Road Crews as you who work 9-to-5 and get 16 hours off and sleep in a comfy bed every damn night and are off every weekend!). Now, for me, every day is a Saturday...LOL!!! Yet, sadly, you can, and continue, to force the depletion of management ranks, at tremendous levels!!!
And, I know some of you and how you think!!! I repeat, ye shall reap what YE SOW. Because, the Robots are coming for you, too! And, I'll be sitting here retired if I live long enough, laughing at you guys and your kids, and their wanderlust futures, that you you selves have devised, unless you've devised one of those scams to get them into the Ivy League?

Posted from Android



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/19 05:36 by Red.

      Cut the screaming ( capital letters ) and ranting and you might have had something I would have finished reading. When I saw more on the second attack, I gave up.

Whatever.

Posted from Android

Red, it is good to see you back posting on TO.

What a load of useless dribble!

Posted from Android

Must be a Wall Street RR Stock Analyst or a PSR apologist, there! Hey?!?

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/19 05:28 by Red.

Englewood Wrote:
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> Red, it is good to see you back posting on TO.

Good to see you, Englewood!

Posted from Android

Nice to hear such candor from another from within BNSF.  Being on the TYE side of things, it has been sad and pathetic to watch this company take its marching orders from those who know nothing about railroading.  This reminds me of what happened to Wal-Mart after Sam died  Son Rob took over and began taking his marching orders from the same beasts of Wall Street and changed the company for the worse forever.  Even though we are somewhat shielded from within the confines of the Bershire Hathaway portfolio, it appears there may be no desire to stop the corporate raiding leviathans.    One can only hope a voice of reason near the top steps into the gap and says no but I am not very hopeful.

I admire people who speak up when their jobs ARE on the line.  I recently told my Operating Manager how I felt about things at work (LTL trucking), and it wasn't good.

Don't be afraid to speak the truth.

 

While I cannot comment on impact that PSR is having on the trucking industry in general, the chemical transport companies are booming. On multiple occasions one shipper has had to move product by truck from texas to the north east rather shipping from their local facility because tank cars were over 3 weeks delayed. Needless to say the truck carrier is charging a premium for these moves. The carries lack the capacity to take on much more business due to a lack of qualified drivers and the short supply of new tank trailers.
A traffic manager friend jokes that a weegee Board gives a better estimate of arrival times than the railways.... At one of the rail to truck tranfer sites he uses there were no deliveries for 2 weeks then all his cars showed up the same day.... needless to say there were not enough spots in the facility for all of the car loads......
From a railway point of view chemical, plastics etc are a very profitable part of their business. Fortunately for them, the chemical companies distribution channels are primarily based on rail on shipments over 800 to 1000 miles so this traffic will not disappear overnight but the chemical companies are exerting heavy pressure in Washington. Thier solution is government reregulation....
The railways have been giving lip service to these shippers concerns as wall controls the strings. Just as wall street will dump thier stock holding before the inevitable crash, railway senior management will sell thiers and jump ship.. watch the sec reports on share sales by senior officers.......

Posted from Android

dxm332 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While I cannot comment on impact that PSR is
> having on the trucking industry in general, the
> chemical transport companies are booming. On
> multiple occasions one shipper has had to move
> product by truck from texas to the north east
> rather shipping from their local facility because
> tank cars were over 3 weeks delayed. Needless to
> say the truck carrier is charging a premium for
> these moves. The carries lack the capacity to
> take on much more business due to a lack of
> qualified drivers and the short supply of new tank
> trailers.
> A traffic manager friend jokes that a weegee
> Board gives a better estimate of arrival times
> than the railways.... At one of the rail to truck
> tranfer sites he uses there were no deliveries for
> 2 weeks then all his cars showed up the same
> day.... needless to say there were not enough
> spots in the facility for all of the car
> loads......
> From a railway point of view chemical, plastics
> etc are a very profitable part of their
> business. Fortunately for them, the chemical
> companies distribution channels are primarily
> based on rail on shipments over 800 to 1000 miles
> so this traffic will not disappear overnight but
> the chemical companies are exerting heavy
> pressure in Washington. Thier solution is
> government reregulation....
> The railways have been giving lip service to these
> shippers concerns as wall controls the strings.
> Just as wall street will dump thier stock holding
> before the inevitable crash, railway senior
> management will sell thiers and jump ship.. watch
> the sec reports on share sales by senior
> officers.......
>
> Posted from Android

I think THIS about sums things up....??!!

So I'm curious, how many tanker trucks does it take to equal one RR tanker..??

> I think THIS about sums things up....??!!
>
> So I'm curious, how many tanker trucks does it
> take to equal one RR tanker..??

Depends on the product tank.  Corn syrup tanks are about 12 to 15000 gallons.  Oil and gas product tanks are typically 30k or more.  Hazmat items vary too but usually in the range between the two mentioned.

gnr1938 Wrote:
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> > I think THIS about sums things up....??!!
> >
> > So I'm curious, how many tanker trucks does it
> > take to equal one RR tanker..??
>
> Depends on the product tank.  Corn syrup tanks
> are about 12 to 15000 gallons.  Oil and gas
> product tanks are typically 30k or more.  Hazmat
> items vary too but usually in the range between
> the two mentioned.

Railcars are limited to 285,000 to 315,000lbs as a max weight. The vast majority of US roadways allow a total of 80,000 for a single tractor & trailer.  Canada, Mexico and portions of the US allow just over 90,000 gross weight.

Biting into the UPRR's Chemical Corridor emanating north out of Houston (directionally) for the loads, southbound for the empties, would hit them where they hurt. Bad.
Any moves towards reregulation of any kind are the biggest fear of all of the Class Ones, and the AAR. Bigtime! It was the Staggers Act...Dereg, in the late 1970s, much-needed, which after it "soaked in," led to the eventual much-vaunted, very real, highly profitable "Railroad Renaissance" that came about in the late 1980s and really took off like a rocket in the 1990s. Bigtime. Coal gave the rails a big boost in the 1970s, and, all through the ensuing period, enormously, but it was Dereg that really gave them the profitability boost they truly needed and absolutely quashed the talk and, truth one used to hear in the 190 about railroads being a "Dying Industry."
Well, Virginia, here we go again! It shall be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And it will be sad. The very same things that were done in the late 1950' all through the entire decade of the 1960s, on into the 1970s, shall be the trend now with PSR.

Posted from Android

flarails882 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> gnr1938 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > > I think THIS about sums things up....??!!
> > >
> > > So I'm curious, how many tanker trucks does
> it
> > > take to equal one RR tanker..??
> >
> > Depends on the product tank.  Corn syrup tanks
> > are about 12 to 15000 gallons.  Oil and gas
> > product tanks are typically 30k or more.
>  Hazmat
> > items vary too but usually in the range between
> > the two mentioned.
>
> Railcars are limited to 285,000 to 315,000lbs as a
> max weight. The vast majority of US roadways allow
> a total of 80,000 for a single tractor &
> trailer.  Canada, Mexico and portions of the US
> allow just over 90,000 gross weight.

Depends on the subdivision but I assume he was looking for volume over weight.

On average 3 to 4 tank trucks equal one railcar.  We've had several calls for four loads from shipper to consignee because of railcar shortage or the best one is "Railroad lost car".  Seems to get more common lately.  Dan.  Driver for Quality Carriers.

WOW glad to see TO is back in full swing with lots of I know what is wrong with it but no substance to prove it.  Get the popcorn out.

dt8089 Wrote:
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> On average 3 to 4 tank trucks equal one railcar. 
> We've had several calls for four loads from
> shipper to consignee because of railcar shortage
> or the best one is "Railroad lost car".  Seems to
> get more common lately.  Dan.  Driver for
> Quality Carriers.

Yes.

Many crude oil and ethanol tank cars are stenciled for 31,000 gallons. Others for 29,000, etc.