I’m looking to understand the daily responsibilities and pain points of professionals involved in train operations and maintenance. Specifically, I want to learn about:
51+ year employee of CSX and its predecessors back to the B&O in 1965.
CSX has a defined Operating Plan for its scheduled merchandise train network. This plan was originally developed by taking customers ‘needs’ and mapping them against the Amtrak & Commuter authorities defined schedules and thus developing a base line for the Operating Plan. CSX revises the Operating Plan on a weekly basis to account for MofW Major Gang projects happening all over the system.
The Major Gangs are highly mechanized and work on a ‘production line’ basis. Major Gangs include Rail Gangs, Tie & Surfacing Gangs, Curve Patch Gangs - each of these gang consist of 50 to 100 or more men and myriad of specialized track working machines. It takes an hour or more from ‘start time’ to get all the men and their machines actively working on whatever their project is, by the same token at the end of the day the lead machines will have to stop working so that all the following machines can work to that point and make the track safe for the operation of trains once MofW turns the track back to Operations.
HQ MofW keep volumes of data on every track mile of the company’s routes. That data includes rail weight and when installed and if new or relay, tie type wood or concrete, when and how many new ties were installed, when the most recent surfacing was applied to the line segment. Additionally data developed by the multiple Track Geometry trains get incorporated into the mix and this does not take into consideration the number of geometry measuring locomotives and box cars that report wirelessly as they are used in daily routine operations. On top of that you have the federally required inspections of Roadmaster and Track Inspector which are a weekly requirement. The use of all this data highlights which territories are in need of attention in the upcoming year and use of the data will also define how much new rail needs to be purchased, how many ties are needed as well as how much ballast needs to be secure as well as where the ballast will be obtained. Needless to say use and maintenance records are developed for all the gang’s track machinery and replacement plans formulated.
HQ MofW and Operations personnel will meet and agree to a schedule for the MofW Gangs across the property for the upcoming year. The logistics of obtaining and distributing the necessary track materials to the areas that will need them is done nominally on a weekly basis as the materials become available.
You named the common challenges that crop up amongst all participants on the railroad - as a wild card throw in Hurricane and Tornado damages or maybe a serious structure fire. As a general guide, Major Gang projects will be scheduled on the Southern end of the network in the November-April period and on the Northern end in the March-December period.
The last 26 years of my career were spent as a Asst. Chief Dispatcher on multiple CSX Divisions, both North and South.
As in life, it isn’t about how many times you get knocked down, it is about what you do when you pick yourself up and get moving again.
To add to Balt’s wild cards - collisions with vehicles and people. Even if railroad equipment isn’t damaged, there’s still time needed to investigate and clean up, and likely a new crew will have to be called up and transported to the scene to take over the train. On a couple-trains-a-day this isn’t going to be a huge issue, but on a sixty trains per day mainline, it’s definitely a headache operationally.
BALTACD: Thanks for the insights on the Operating Plan and M of W Major Gang projects. Are the M of W projects performed by contractors or railroad employees?
To my knowledge - MofW work on IN SERVICE lines is done with CSX employees, Projects requiring out of face replacement of destroyed line segments like rebuilding the NO&M Subdivision between New Orleans and Mobile after Hurricane Katrina and the restoration of Clinchfield that was destroyed by Hurricane Helene last year are performed by all the outside contractors the company can find to get the line restored in the shortest amount of time. During these rebuilding operations the CSXT MofW employees are kept busy on their regular projects.
In the early 1990’s when I went back to Dispatching, while MofW planned their major maintenance projects, much as the do today, they did not really coordinate those projects with Operations - the Operating Plan did not change and no real efforts were expended to see the MofW got the track time they needed to complete the projects - there were daily wars between MofW and Division Operations management over the granting of track time. In many cases the objectives of the Big Gang projects were not attained and the gangs had to move on to their next project on the calendar. Totally wasteful for everyone involved, MofW and Operations - after several years of these daily wars, somebody - and I don’t know who, with enough power said enough was enough and there had to be a better way. With that they got MofW & Operations to work WITH each other and the devised the Curfew System where the Operating Plan gets changed on a weekly basis all year round to facilitate track time for MofW Projects. Is it perfect - it is the railroad and nothing is ever perfect, but it is the best they have devised to this point in time.