Eastern Railroad Discussion > Do any rail lines have an effective crew calling system?

I'm always amazed when people talk about their experiences being called as crew members. "I stood for the 10pm, but didn't get called until 7am" or, "I was one minute off my minimum rest when the phone rang" or "I went from fourth out to next out with nothing moving in the yard" etc.

Do any railroads / divisions, etc have an accurate process for letting you know when you'll expect to report? Other than the Florida East Coast, which seems to have starts that are set by an atomic clock. Even their extra trains seem to run on a consistent start range.

It would seem that there should be an app where you could securely log in and see where you stood, and where the trains are. The company can tell shippers when to expect their boxcar / container, so the capability is already in the system for most of this.

Not even the Florida East Coast has accurate line ups, on the extra board there is no line ups....you simply call the caller and ask them what position you are and what they think might get called.

They don't have a pool, all regular trains are assigned regular crews, they get call times for their trains but it can vary. It is better than most all railroads, but not perfect. Especially when there is only one extra board and not everyone is qualified to work road jobs, so the road qualified guys basically have no lineups. No idea if they will get called for a yard job or a random road job. Again it's way way way better than class 1s, I'm curious to see how this changes with FECs new ownership.

As far as class 1 railroads go, NONE that I know have good line ups provided to crews, but if a shipper was to call I'm sure they would be given a pretty exact window of when their car will be delivered.

Edit: there is an app on my class 1 that we can use to check our board standing and line ups, or you can also call the automated phone system....either way your being lied to. Might as well go buy a oijua board and ask the ghosts in your house what time you're going to get called to work. Would probably be more accurate that way.

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/17 19:31 by jointauthority.

Yeah, that class one app is worthless. Except you can print your call slip with it when yours is trashed by previous crew digging through paperwork on the paperless system.

They can't even get that to work consistently. Sometimes it will say no call sheet, or you enter the printer number and it says printer not valid.

SD45X Wrote:
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> Yeah, that class one app is worthless. Except you
> can print your call slip with it when yours is
> trashed by previous crew digging through paperwork
> on the paperless system.

Posted from Android

I love trying to print my GTBs and end up getting ones for a train that's clear across the country.

Grab em and get out the door, the vans outside.

Lol


Milw_E70 Wrote:
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> I love trying to print my GTBs and end up getting
> ones for a train that's clear across the country.

Posted from Android

I know that the "old days" have absolutely no relation
to today's operation and old methods of operation have
been thoroughly discredited by the geniuses that run
the big roads today.

But,
in the old days when I started it was a matter of pride
to the DS to accurately figure train times into a terminal
and
woe be to any DS that did not have a train's orders ready when
the outbound crew arrived.

Ready to hear all the reasons it can't be done now................

With coal trains,grain trains, oil trains its next to impossible to get accurate line ups as there to many variables train is scheduled, but no power, elevator hasn't finished loading the train, coal plant has had a brake down and can't unload the train,the mine has issues, even regular trains have issues that are to numerous to mention here. Its hard to good get line-ups when there are so many variables;you just have to be there.

That's what they want you to think, and saying you just have to be there isn't good enough.

mopacrr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With coal trains,grain trains, oil trains its next
> to impossible to get accurate line ups as there to
> many variables train is scheduled, but no power,
> elevator hasn't finished loading the train, coal
> plant has had a brake down and can't unload the
> train,the mine has issues, even regular trains
> have issues that are to numerous to mention here.
> Its hard to good get line-ups when there are so
> many variables;you just have to be there.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm always amazed when people talk about their
> experiences being called as crew members. "I
> stood for the 10pm, but didn't get called until
> 7am" or, "I was one minute off my minimum rest
> when the phone rang" or "I went from fourth out to
> next out with nothing moving in the yard" etc.
>
> Do any railroads / divisions, etc have an accurate
> process for letting you know when you'll expect to
> report? Other than the Florida East Coast, which
> seems to have starts that are set by an atomic
> clock. Even their extra trains seem to run on a
> consistent start range.
>
> It would seem that there should be an app where
> you could securely log in and see where you stood,
> and where the trains are. The company can tell
> shippers when to expect their boxcar / container,
> so the capability is already in the system for
> most of this.

First, the railroad would need to know what will do before it could tell anyone else. They don't.

Second, the railroad would have to be aware of what is happening now. They often are not.

Third, there would need to be effective planning and communication between the folks who call the crews and the folks running the trains. There is generally not.

Fourth, software tools developed by subject matter experts for experts would be beneficial. Most of what is being used does not fit that description.

Fifth, there would need to be actual experts involved. There generally are not.

Sixth, given the presence of actual experts, workload would need to allow expert workmanship. It generally does not.

Seventh, the railroad should be divided into workable segments, each managed in its entirety by a single person per shift instead of a committee. That arrangement is generally not to be found.

Other than that, there should be no problem in effective crew management.

TAW

mopacrr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With coal trains,grain trains, oil trains its next
> to impossible to get accurate line ups as there to
> many variables train is scheduled, but no power,
> elevator hasn't finished loading the train, coal
> plant has had a brake down and can't unload the
> train,the mine has issues, even regular trains
> have issues that are to numerous to mention here.
> Its hard to good get line-ups when there are so
> many variables;you just have to be there.

Just more of what many of us used to do every day that can't be done.

Several years ago, just for entertainment, I did a little work on system morning reports for a week, looking for all of those things that always happen, keeping lineups from being accurate. I found them. Over an entire class 1 system, those "things" (excuses for chaos) represented less than one percent of all of the traffic system wide.

TAW

I've mentioned from time to time that successful organizations require everyone to be represented in decision making, and gains need to be shared. That's almost never the case in class 1 railroads, from what I can tell.

I helped start a company which provided accounting and investment services for corporate and union benefit plans. We had a major investor, and several of us owned small pieces of the company. But one key to our success was sharing 1% of the substantial net profit evenly among all employees. It got everyone focused on making a larger total profit. Our receptionist received a bigger bonus for two years than her base pay, for example.

Not surprisingly, that feature was the very first thing the new owner got rid of. Lost about half the company staff in six months. They had to add staff like crazy to cover what a few dedicated cooperating employees could do on their own. All the stuff railroaders complain about (micro-managing, jurisdiction issues, lazy people, not my job) we got in six months.