The major RRs seem to be running full speed ahead in track capacity expansions. Even though CSX has announced a minor increase in CAPEX; are the RRs at a limit of work ? Our experts are invited to pitch in. Will try to cover various items in some kind of order.
More ballast. Appears to be a plentiful supply. The ballast dispensing cars also seem to be plentiful especially with Hertzog and new RR rapid dispensing cars ?
Cross ties. It has been reported that cross tie manufacturing and orders are slightly down for the 1st quarter of this year. . This may be because for the last few years more Ballast has been dropped there by keep ties dryer so they last longer ? But in my corner of the world CSX has been timely in dropping regular wood ties just before track work. Hardwood crossing ties have been delivered quicker as a rule.
Rail – Have not observed much replacement rail on present routes but more resurfacing and rail grinding seems to have extended present rail life ? New rail especially premium may be at a supply limit ? Is CF&I ( new name escapes ) at its production limit ? Any other producers ? Is CSX, UP, NS, especially BNSF waiting for rail ?
Switch machines, frogs, and other equipment readily available ?
The major RRs seem to be running full speed ahead in track capacity expansions. Even though CSX has announced a minor increase in CAPEX; are the RRs at a limit of work ? Our experts are invited to pitch in. Will try to cover various items in some kind of order.
More ballast. Appears to be a plentiful supply. The ballast dispensing cars also seem to be plentiful especially with Hertzog and new RR rapid dispensing cars ?
BALLAST CAR FLEETS ARE STRETCHED TO THEIR LIMITS
Cross ties. It has been reported that cross tie manufacturing and orders are slightly down for the 1st quarter of this year. . This may be because for the last few years more Ballast has been dropped there by keep ties dryer so they last longer ? But in my corner of the world CSX has been timely in dropping regular wood ties just before track work. Hardwood crossing ties have been delivered quicker as a rule.
This may be because for the last few years more Ballast has been dropped there by keep ties dryer so they last longer ?[%-)]-Wishfull thinking?
Rail – Have not observed much replacement rail on present routes but more resurfacing and rail grinding seems to have extended present rail life ? New rail especially premium may be at a supply limit ? Is CF&I ( new name escapes ) at its production limit ? Any other producers ? Is CSX, UP, NS, especially BNSF waiting for rail ?
EVRAZ- Rocky Moubtain Steel Mills/PUEBLO - Running full out producing 115/132/136/141 Rail
Switch machines, frogs, and other equipment readily available ?
MC, I found it hard to read your remarks when I first saw your reply, in my Email. When I came to the site, they were easier to read (apparently larger font, perhaps?)–but, please, use a more contrasting color.
I saw nothing insulting or any contempt in your remarks; all I saw was information.
Mudchicken is one of the few (perhaps the only one) at this site that has many, many years of railroad engineering and track maintenance experience. I have known him since the mid-1980’s and he was doing those things at that time. Yes, he will be very candid and may ruffle some feelings. He has worked under operating department supervision who could not hit their backside with either hand regarding track maintenance but they were the “boss”. It would serve us all well to heed his thoughts and ideas.
Information only? Conclusions, opinions and name-calling:
"Preconceived notions die hard deaths and never go away ( seem to show up here daily on the forum as espoused by some of the legends in their own little minds). It’s also plenty obvious that the public transit side wanting to use freight rail for their narrow minded purposes are clueless about corridor capacity and long term sustained maintenance. "
Mudchicken is normally highly knowledgeable and very polite. Maybe he’s having a bad day, but if any of us non-railroaders referred to railroaders using similar terms, there would be a flurry of nasty insults.
Being that you seem to be insulted that some of us won’t run in lockstep with your thin skinned POV: Suck it up, Cupcake. I wasn’t speaking in specifics. Check the ego at the door.
Well I’m just offended that you’re offended. In fact, I find it offensive that you are taking offense[:O]
I work in the construction industry, so maybe I’m more used to a different way of communicating. You learn to have thick skin, and not get all bent out of shape about the way something is presented. There really is something to be said for folks who tell it like it is. I’d rather hear it straight from someone who knows what he’s talking about, than hear something wishy-washy from who feels that each and every word has to be considered so we don’t hurt anyone’s feelings.
Many of us have been talking for two decades about the "Institutional Memory " departing, and the lack of replacement (due to many accounts). The gap, is not perceived, but real. I hope Zug shares his observations on this.
Part of the ‘Congestion Problem’ that the carriers are currently experiencing is because of the lost Institutional Memory, with the ‘Powers in Charge’ never having had to deal with this situation (that has occurred from time to time over the years) and having to reinvent the wheel to come up with solutions. Added to that is the internal politics of computer derived numbers (or metrix); in many cases todays managers only know how to manage the numbers - not how to manage the moving objects and manpower that moves the objects that generate the numbers.
One bad operational decision can take a day or more to recover from. A derailment or other form of resource denial can take a week or more to recover. You can’t just turn off the lights like you can on a Christmas Garden train layout - you have to work through that bad decision or happening and strive to get the operation back to being fluid. It is not neat, it is not clea
Yes, Staggers (deregulation) happened At Least 30 years too late. The economic regulation put the US railroads in a survival mode and left them unable to serve their market efficiently, including expanding and growing with the economy. They’re still playing catch up.
Would like to hear Mudchicken’s opinion, but IMHO the lack of qualified people for all phases of the project may be the most serious problem of those listed. It affects all phases of the project, even figuring out how to finance the project, design it, procure it, administer the contract (both the administrative and technical issues) plus finding qualified people to do the actual work and manage the project on the contractor’s side. If you don’t have qualified people, or have qualified people who are spread too thin, you are going to have problems.
MC: HOT BUTTON EH ? Mudchicken has hit the nail on the head of items this poster was concerned. Ballast trains had not been used here lately so can see why did not know they were in short supply. I certainty was not offended. In fact it is important that we know that is a major problem. Appears this is a very important fact of what can be accomplished this year ? Why has Trains not seen this coming on ? Fred Frailey you need to investigate these limitations ?
Institutional knowledge and supplies are very important from what has been posted on this thread. Why has others on this forum not seen that this problem exists ? Maybe we can divert our observations to this construction problem ?
Depends if you see it as a problem or not. The question not asked is why is there a “shortage” of these trains? Its because the railroads are doing so MUCH maintenance and expansion that they have fully utilized the equipment. Engineering capital budgets are the highest they have even been. This isn’t a matter of not being able to do the normal work it 's a matter of how much additional work can they do above the “normal” plan compared to the last decade or so. This isn’t deferred maintenance, its how much can be pulled ahead.
If you had 10 more ballast trains, would you have the tampers to use it? With traffic increasing would the operating department be willing to shut down 5 more subdivisions for 6 hours a day to do the tamping?