Good Evening, I was wondering something today I saw a train sitting on a side track today. It was sitting there all day from the time. I got to work this morning up till I left work this afternoon I was wondering something how long can train crews sit before they need to be replaced or relieved from duty and. I wonder this cause when. I was leaving work this afternoon the second engine which was a leased loco. It was running like they were getting ready to leave but as of 5:30 it had not moved an inch. Just in case anyone wonders where this is it is on the south side of milwaukee. It’s the CP/ Amtrak line. The first loco was CP number 8700 and the second was a Grey leased Loco. Number 3080 it was a mixed manifest train from what I could see anyway. Thanks again for any input into this subject.
Federal Railway Administration and union rules limit crews to 12 hours. I have seen crew changes taking place several times out in the boonies because the crew was reaching their 12 hour deadline and had to be replaced. Are you sure there was a crew aboard and the engines were not just parked?
There must have been a derailment or other problem along the line for the train to have sat for so long.
If the crew “died on the law” (worked their max 12 hours), and there was no crew available to relieve them, I’d bet the train was simply tied down and left. Once a crew becomes available, the crew taxi will take them to the train and away it’ll go.
The Federal Hours of Service Act forbids any Train and Engine crew member from performing service for the carrier beyond 12 hours.
The clock starts running when you report for duty at your call time.(there are exceptions to this, see the links below)
My yard job starts at 6:30 am, and the carrier can require me to work till 6:30 pm, with a 20 minute meal period no later than 5hours and 40 minutes after I start work, and a second meal period to start no later than 5 hours and 40 minutes after the last meal period.
Service to the carrier includes the cab ride out to the train; any time spent sitting on the train, so forth and so on.
When the 12 hours have expired, the crew is forbidden, except in an emergency, from performing any service for the carrier…this has generally been interpreted as moving the train, moving cars, lining switches, or any action that can be construed as performance of a job duty.
The cab ride for the crew back to the terminal or hotel/motel/lodgings is considered dead head time, and counts as dead head pay time…it does not count as off duty rested time.
The off duty time clock starts when they crew is dropped off at the lodgings.
http://jaysworks.com/1637/fra/hours.html
This link provides some common terms and explains their usual meaning and use.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~trains/rrterms.htm
This link is the FRA’s interpretation of the Hours of Service Act.
depends on how long your ride takes to get there…i got called out of Bensenville on a CP run thru to Grand Rapids in '00 (this was my worst trip ever)…Chicago was a mess after the Conrail split…in 12 hours we got as far as Clark Jct…(25 miles IIRC)…it took our PTI taxi ( the company CSX uses to shuttle crews around here) 9 hours to get there.(so on on the train 21 hours now) once our ride got there there was a re-crew for our train and a deadhead crew for the Bensenville hotel so we had drive all the way across town before we could start the ride home…i was on duty a total 29 hours that trip (after 26 hours in the hotel)…theres other times that by the time you get to your siding your going to park your ride is waiting…its just a matter of how it all shakes out
“off duty time” starts when you tie-up your job…around here you tie-up quick at the home terminal and maybe eat first at the away terminal…our contract says that any away terminal lodging will have computer access to the CSX computer system so crews can tie-up at
I have seen a UP stacker sitting in Cheyenne for at least two days.I am going to say the Midwest flooding is screwing everything up. We have been sending a Galesburg train from Denver south through KC and up the Brookfield sub. But if Quincy floods we are up the creek wo the paddle.
I have sat on trains after 12 hours. Sometimes it was due to weather, snow and the like. And others just poor management
The other night they call me for a train a 1730 that dies at 1730 far enough out on the incomng line that we cant go get it. The DC was called at 1840!!! So we use the 4 hour rule ( tie up for 4 remain first out and get called for our train)So they forget to cal us but we call them and are on at 130 am. We can only work 10 hours cause we were sitting on duty for two before they released us.
Now get this. As we are blasting along we get a on duty call for a coal train back in Cheyenne!!! The crew caller actaly asked me why I was getting this call ( I dont know man I am not the caller I m the callee)He didnt find it amusing when I said we would tie the train on the main and cab back to Cheyenne if he really needed us too lol. My sense of humor at 4 am isnt the best but I was on fire that morning.
The easy way to answer this is to say as long as the carrier wants. We are not going to do any work after 12hrs on duty but ive sat on engines 16 hrs never turned a wheel. was relieved went home and got rest and deadheaded back to the same train for 16 hrs . ive know guys on duty 32 hrs over time after 8 hrs. and after the tax man got his cut we could afford to buy 1 steak.
That’s when you can really appreciate the comfort of a SD40-2, compared to trying to get relaxed in one of them “office cabs”.
So if you tie up after 12 hours on duty but you’re required to stay with the train for another 4 hours, is this still time you’re paid for even though you’re forbidden from doing any work? Is this correct? BTW, this isn’t any type of slam against you for being compensated (you should be), I’m just curious if I understand this correctly.
Until they tie up, the crew gets paid. Past 12 hours, they are forbidden from doing any work of any kind - even being required to watch passing trains as they go by. So, from 12 hours until they tie up, they are in “Limbo” - neither on-duty, nor off-duty.
Yes we are still paid for the time.
Parked trains were a problem for a long time around here, didn’t cause CSX to make friends with several towns they serve.