Lately where I live BNSF has been leaving parked trains on the double track mainline backed up for tens of miles with no crews in them I live on the Ravenna line of the Nebraska sub. Has anyone else anywhere else noticed this where they live? Or is it just here.
It could be track work too.
BNSFrailfan.
CN does it all the time. Last winter they left trains on the main overnight because of a shortage of crews. That is because CN is cheap; I don’t know why BNSF would do something like that.
Everyone is short of crews and equipment too. UP is worst and the most noticeable but BNSF is short too as are CSX and to a lesser degree NS.
Trains are parked in a lot of places now.
LC
Too much freight…Not enough railroad[:D][(-D]!
BNSFrailfan.
The BN and now BNSF have been doing this for years, since at least 1981. Lincoln fills up with traffic so they start parking trains on all the sidings west to Ravenna. Crews run out of time on the hours of service. Ravenna yard fills up and so they start parking trains west of there. Those crews start to expire on the Hours of Service. Next thing you know it is a single track railroad from Lincoln to Broken Bow or even Thedford. Track work does not help such situations. Too much traffic and not enough infrastructure or manpower.
You know the economy is turning. The last time they were parked like this is when the long shore men struck and tied up the docks on the West Coast. UP and to a lesser extent BNSF though they have a Yard in Auburn, WA are parking trains on the sidings going into Seattle.
Sometimes they will even cut off most of the engines and use them to move other trains – just leaving one unit in place to maintain air pressure. Railroad freight movements are a very good indicator of the economy - especially TOFC/COFC. I watch the railroad numbers all the time – even though my analysis specialty is in high tech.
dd