BURLINGTON, Vt. — Precision Scheduled Railroading favors stockholders over shippers, has not improved service, and could ultimately lead to some form of re-regulation of the railroad industry, a Penn State University logistics professor contend…
News Wire: Penn State professor questions long term effectiveness of Precision Scheduled Railroading
I’m shocked that a Wall Street analyst would disagree with the professor.
www.abhatchconsulting.com/profile.html
Well, maybe not that shocked. Not even feeling a tingle. Nope, nothing. The battery must be dead.
Jeff
PS. I originally thought I was replying to this thread. I didn’t realize it appeared on the other one. Too many news items close together I guess.
Another view on the professor’s findings.
Jeff
Tony has never made any attempt to hide the fact he is a shill for railroad management and practices.
The age old conflict between satisfying a bottom line for stockholders Vs good relations with customers is similar to the one between management /owners Vs labor. In both cases, the correct solutions aren’t found in a destructive either/or, but in rationale compromises. But a short-term mindset ignores that. Not good.
It sure looks as if PSR is just one step in a longer process that looks something like this:
Step 1) PSR is implemented. Costs come down through cuts in personnel and equipment and by sweating the remaining assets.
Step2) The realization: i.e. Oh shoot… we can’t respond to freight surges and exceptional circumstances as we don’t have the capacity and people available.
Step 3) A response to step 2 by once again reinvesting in the business…
CN, the first adopter of PSR appears to be at step 3 now.
Likely the end result is a well run railroad with PSR tempered by other factors to keep shippers and employees happy. Ultimately the needs of the customer drives everything…
Well said. PSR is only one tool of many, and the big mistake is to apply it as an absolute answer, disregarding everything else.
I’m pretty sure (and I’ve said before) that there is nothing new in PSR - it’s just a different package.
The unfortunate problem with PSR is that it seems to be nothing more than a way to move cash out of the company and into the investor’s pockets. On the surface, that sounds great, and moving money into the investor’s pockets is a good thing - they’ll keep investing.
The problem occurs when all efforts seem to go to ensuring that more money ends up in the investor’s pockets, to the detriment of things operational. Several here have noted this phenomenon.
PSR is a fraud? I’m SHOCKED, SIMPLY SHOCKED! Who would have thought such a thing.
I think Norfolk Southern has the right approach… more measured and careful. They’ve likely watched the others and have come to the stark and perhaps surprising conclusion that there’s no real value in pissing off one’s customers and employees.
Actually I think the BNSF has the best idea of all of them. They deceided to basically STAY AWAY from PSR for the most part.