The present choke point on BNSF in ND is well known by our posters.
Was there any one who forecast this problem ? I don’t remember any post from 2 -3 years past that did.
As MC posted solve one choke point and that may move the problem to another location.
Many major capital improvements now just being finished or under construction may cause that old saw " unintended consequences "
So when BNSF solves its ND problems will then move to another location ?
Now what can cause problems to come up ?
It certainly appears that the new HOS rules may make problems worse especially inclement weather. The Airline industry had new rules go into effect January 4th and there have been numerous cancellations since then due to lack of crews and crew members not understanding the new rules.
Related are the much longer scheduled crew member districts many going thru historical terminals.
Lack of qualified crew.
large traffic increases.
Here in the east many ROWS are built on present substandard subgrades. Not their fault just built before and after civil war.
Where do you posters anticipate future choke points ?
10 Amtrak choke points are well known, NH line BOS - NYP, east river tunnels, north river tunnels, Portal bridge, Maryland bridges, Baltimore tunnel.
Long bridge and the Virginia avenue tunnel when fixed may move problem to the B&O WAS Baltimore Howard street tunnel.
CSX Anacostia bridge and single track thru Fredericksburg.
Amtrak/Metrolink LOSSAN corridor: Single track stretch through San Clemente, with maybe a couple of spots where a short passing track could be added without incredible cost. ATK #582 usually has to wait 3 to 5 minutes for northbound trains to clear that stretch.
ND has been experiencing a rapid growth unit oil train traffic. Who knew that this was going to happen even 3-5 years ago. To compound this, the ‘old’ mainline via Devils Lake/Grand Forks has been under onslaught by increasing water levels. The state and federal government finally addressed this when Amtrak would have to be rerouted to the ‘cutoff’ and grain trains would also have to be rerouted(elevators shipping charges would increase).
The next ‘choke point’ east is the single track east of Staples, MN. Going west of Minot, additional second main track as far as Williston may be needed to keep things fluid. The good news is that the upgrades are happening on the old main via Devils Lake. The bad news is that this is causing delays to Amtrak, and forcing a lot of freight traffic to the cutoff, just making is less ‘fluid’. It has taken decades of political discussions to get the rerouting approved. Even Canada is involved as any extra drainage from Devils Lake will go directly to Canada.
Your HOS rule change in point #5 - When did that happen? It has been 12 hours since the 70’s. Having trains ‘die’ due to winter weather has been a way of life here in the north. Reducing tonnage due to air brake issues is the usual fix, but then you see more congestion and your pool of available crews shrink. This has been a brutal winter.
La Crosse, WI has seen up to an additional 11 unit oil trains/day - BNSF had to add a 2nd main track through the yard area and are looking to add a 2nd main track between Grand X’ing and Graff interlocking as well.
I’ll leave details to more knowledgeable persons. However the "limbo time " rule has changed and the " 30 hour rest " rule is requiring more crews. when changed & Details anyone ?
For freight service, it’s 10 hours undisturbed (some limited and technical exceptions, as to do what service is covered and which isn’t) between duty periods. A cap of 276 hours total in any month, after which the employee is out of service for the remainder of the month. Unlikely, but never say impossible, that many will actually ever reach that cap. There is a 30 hour per month “limbo” time cap, but that doesn’t mean after 30 hour’s limbo the employee is out of service for the month. After an employee reaches 30 hours limbo time, the railroad is fined for all limbo time that employee accrues after 30 hours. After 6 consecutive (covered service) starts, a 48 hour rest period is required. If the 6th start puts the employee at the away from home terminal, they may work a 7th start to return to their home terminal. After the 7th start (covered service) the rest requirement is 72 hours instead of 48 hours. It’s the FR and to a lesser extent, the longer undisturbed rest that leads to crew shortages.
In my area, we recently haven’t been directly impacted by weather, but we are feeling the effects of the weather around us. Crews have been tight with many pool crews in the Federal Required rest. Usually it’s just the extra board t
In the airline business we had a rolling calendar day off that sounds much like your off time. There also was a 100 in 30 days or calendar month depending on type of flying.
As well a 90 day rolling maximum.
One thing that was allowed was for Jan 31th and Mar 1st to be considered part of February. Anything similar in the RR HOS ??
As I understand it now airlines have max HOS depending on home terminal start time.
Ever since the BN took out the third main track through Aurora, IL many years ago I’ll bet they have since wished they had never done so…and now with the big increase in unit trains (especially oil) they are reportedly now thinking about reinstalling that third main from the point west of town where the C&I and Denver main lines interest through Eola yard to the point where the “racetrack” takes over with three main lines all the way into Chicago. That WILL alleviate much of the congestion we now see here.