Western Railroad Discussion > UP called before the STB

The Surface Transporation Board has initiated an Ex Parte docket (EP 772) raising concerns regarding Union Pacific's use of embargos, particularly with 'congestion' being the stated reason for the Embargos.

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/DCMS_External_PROD/1669134260584/51506.pdf

The board will have a public hearing on December 13 and 14 at the Board's headquarters in Washington. Lance M. Fritz, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer; Kenny Rocker, Executive Vice President—Marketing and Sales; Eric Gehringer, Executive Vice President—Operations; and Bradley Moore, Vice President—Customer Care and Support have been directed to attend.

In this order, the board noted that "the use of embargoes by all other Class I carriers, combined, pales in comparison to the number of embargoes issued by UP."

Richie Kennedy
Lawrence, KS
route56.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/22 05:33 by route56.

What is an embargo in this context?

Tom Loftus
Omaha, NE

In simple terms, refusing certain shippers loads because of business levels. 

oUT 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/22 15:36 by callum_out.

Could this have anything to do with the potential strike?

Mike Root
Madras, OR

shortlineboss Wrote:
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> Could this have anything to do with the potential
> strike?

No it goes back long before that came ro head.

UP was also saying that private owner cars were flooding the system causing traffic backups and placed
a moritorium on certain shippers use of their own cars out of certain locales such as SoCal. OmahaTom if
this doesn't all make much sense you're in good company! Throttling traffic because of too many cars, too
few crews, motive power issues and traffic imbalances doesn't sound like a shipper issue. 

Out 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/22 15:40 by callum_out.

Kenny Rocker just put out a "status of the railroad" message that talked about manifest demand exceeding car supply, and that it leads to congestion and not meeting their metrics.   I read that  and it sounded weird.  Now it makes more sense.   Metrics come first. 

UP has been telling owners their system is full and charging more than BNSF forever, so much more preferable to be on  the BNSF  unless your a big shipper and then you still might be better off with BNSF.

They also have lots of power stored that they could put on trains and running trains faster would clear up problems but, naw, they won't do that cause that would raise the O R.  But still having a shortage of crews hurts too.
 

They have treated their operating employees as slaves; decimated the ground support people; hired no one until recenlty; cut back extra boards; abolished jobs; closed yards, and now they cannot handle the traffic!

I hope the STB comes down hard on the UP.  The greedy management created the problem

So what exactly can the STB do to the UP. They don't strike me as having any kind of fear of the STB.

PHall Wrote:
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> So what exactly can the STB do to the UP. They
> don't strike me as having any kind of fear of the
> STB.

There's good historical precedent for that view. While the STB could impose Interline switching on the worst situations, UP would certainly challenge it in court.

With the pro business lean of the current court and the deregulate business view of the new House, I would expect some bark, no bite.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/22 14:02 by Lackawanna484.

PHall Wrote:
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> So what exactly can the STB do to the UP. They
> don't strike me as having any kind of fear of the
> STB.

One punishment for neglecting common carrier obligations (refusing carriage as that's what UP's embargo is) is to deny new business opportunities for the violator. Don't know if STB has the power to do that, but UP is shrinking their business anyway, so in the short term, they aren't afraid of any regulators.

It's clear the UP has the capacity to handle the extra traffic had they been managed correctly, simply by looking at Jim Young and Jack Koraleski eras.

cchan006 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > So what exactly can the STB do to the UP. They
> > don't strike me as having any kind of fear of
> the
> > STB.
>
> One punishment for neglecting common carrier
> obligations (refusing carriage as that's what UP's
> embargo is) is to deny new business opportunities
> for the violator. Don't know if STB has the power
> to do that, but UP is shrinking their business
> anyway, so in the short term, they aren't afraid
> of any regulators.
>
> It's clear the UP has the capacity to handle the
> extra traffic had they been managed correctly,
> simply by looking at Jim Young and Jack Koraleski
> eras.

The current issues at UP started under Young, (even before really) don’t kid yourself.

Regards

Posted from iPhone