UP says it is ready for 1 man crews

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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UP ready for crews of one, CEO says

Union Pacific Railroad is more prepared for one-person train crews than the nation’s other large railroads, and trains traveling across Nebraska and into Wyoming’s Powder River Basin likely would be the first to be operated by just one person, the company’s top executive said.

One-person crews would not operate trains throughout UP’s system, though, Chairman and Chief Executive *** Davidson said in an interview. Areas where modern signal systems are in use with up-to-date technology would see one-person crews, and then probably just on through trains, he said, not those with additional stops.

“In and out of the coal fields of Wyoming, for instance,” he said. “And the North Platte to Council Bluffs route.”

Those areas have restrictive signals, which stop trains if crew members don’t respond to alerts, and other advanced train-control systems, he said.

“We have large sections of our railroad that have the technology that would make (one-person crews) safe.”

The nation’s railroads have asked to negotiate with the 13 rail unions to allow one-person crews and to consolidate engineer and conductor job categories.

The railroads’ national bargaining committee requested federal mediation this week to get negotiations started with the United Transportation Union, which represents mostly conductors.

The UTU filed a lawsuit over the one-person crew issue. The union also has said no technology exists today that would make one-person crews safe.

Switching to one-person crews would require changes beyond technology, Davidson said. “We have to change our paradigm of how we manage our railroad.”

One change now taking place in some areas is the use of troubleshooting crews that assist when trains stop for mechanical or other unexpected reasons. The troubleshooters respond quickly, Davidson said, so the train can get going and its crew doesn’t have to try to fix the p

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LC -Pardon me for getting into an area that I am somewhat limited in, but is this not a practice that is seen in Britian on long distance trains? PL

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PL -

Essentially, yes, this practice is used in GB and elsewhere. At present it is prohibited by labor agreements and in some cases State statutes in the U.S. As has been discussed in much greater length on several other threads lately, the Class 1 RRs in the U.S. are attempting to gain approval for one man train crews.

LC

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OK, here is a thought (from someone somewhat sympathetic to unions). One man crews are allowed when certain standard for train control are met-say CTC with positive train control features. Details to be part of the agreement.

Hey-What’s the going per diem rate for a good arbitrator?

Jay

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On this type of topic? I think the old man J.P. Morgan put it best; If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it. [:-,]

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…and the ball has started rolling.

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Ya well how about NO MAN CREW TRAINS? Trains on the Main line running them selves without no crews at all. Just think,Won’t have no one to wave at. According to the UP that day is a coming!

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And that would be a shame.

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This is from the same guys who were ‘ready’ for the C&NW, MP and SP mergers, look what that brought about. There is no doubt in my mind one man crews are one the way and the railroads will make them ‘work’. Just not very well and not very productively. Productivity as defined by the railroad will go way up but productivity as defined by the customers will take yet another blow. Job quality and job satisfaction as defined by the crews will continue it’s downward spiral.

No man crews? The railroads are all for it. After all there is no one manning the Martian rovers, are there? It will depend if Congress can develop a comfort level with crewless trains and if there will be any public outcry over unmanned 16,000 ton trains rolling through their towns. I think that may be problematic to the railroads.

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It’s going to be interesting to see how this kind of thing progresses, not only to see what kinds of technology are brought in, but also to see what kinds of new jobs are created and how many of the old ones will be axed.

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And it would be kinda BORING!

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For the Engineer there won’t be a difference, just as boring as before.
now if these Conductors wanted job security they should pretend to stay awake.
Not all are sleeping but a good amount are on any train, my apologies to those that do stay alert.

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“Used to be a time when working for the railroad was the best thing a man could do for himself”–Haney from End of the Line.

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The trainmen’s union did not gripe when the engineer was removed from yard assignments (replaced by belt-packs), so I do not imagine the engineer’s union getting too upset when the conductor is replaced by a clipboard.

Ah, yes…teamwork…and looking out for your “brothers”.

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Brilliant, this used to take 4 guy’s now 1! Post '85 railroaders you got the shaft from your “brothers” who covered themselves at your expense. Up hill slow down hill fast tonnage first and safety last, and you’ll never make cash like the old heads! Good luck! Glad I’m out of that outfit.

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Ok.

Put one man crew (Why are we using the word crew anyway? That’s plural) on that train UP.

The very first busted coupler you see on that train 100 miles from anythingville is going to be the one that halts that division.

Or even that through train has to sit sometime at a red signal.

Perhaps that engineer goes to sleep while waiting for it to turn green again. Who is going to be the one to be sent to wake him or her up?

Or worse yet… some kind of freak accident that breaks the boot of the engineer and causes a injury that must be tended to right now.

Who is going to be found to be sent out to drive that train huh?

Answer these questions UP. If you think you have ways to solve these problems in a timely manner then you go ahead and put one man crews on them dar trains.

I strongly state my position that more than one person be assigned to a train. Any train.

If you can deploy 100 men on a MOW train for a week at a time replacing ties in my town, you can afford to deploy 2 or even 3 on your through trains. The cost of the crew’s time driving your trains is but a drop in the revenue of that train load.

Is the railroad so hard up that they cannot afford the payroll? I dont think so.

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Hope that one man “crew” never has to run long hood forward.

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I, for one, am not for this at all. But I am willing to listen to answers to the following scenerios:

“quote” Davidson said one-person crews would not operate trains in areas where crew members must manually line switches or where trains are not in contact electronically with dispatchers.“end quote”

-What happens when you have to manually hand line a power switch, does the engineer now have to make about 8 moves on and off the engine to do this?

How about if it’s about 20 degrees out and for some reason the train dumps and youo have to walk the train and find kickers?

I also imagine this would require a complete stop to copy track warrents, delays and form Bs, etc. as opposed to “keep rolling”, correct?

“quote” One change now taking place in some areas is the use of troubleshooting crews that assist when trains stop for mechanical or other unexpected reasons. The troubleshooters respond quickly, Davidson said, so the train can get going and its crew doesn’t have to try to fix the problem itself. “end quote” How is this saving money by elemintating a conductor job, for a troobleshooter? Are these non-union 5 dollar an hour jobs or outside contractors?

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Trouble shooter/ HAH!

They better be good troubleshooters. What does it take to troubleshoot a train?

In trucking we call the dispatcher (Satellite, cellphone or payphone)
Dispatcher routes to the shop. Shop asks all kinds of questions.

1 hour gone…

Shop finally gets back to you and let’s you know what to do or to expect help…
You wait some more…

1 to however many hours gone.

Help arrives…

Bends over busted part and says “I dont have that part with me” and "Will need to go back to the shop to get (Insert reason)

That is for trucking. I know very little about breakdown recovery on trains. But I will imagine very many people within the company would want to talk to this one engineer with penetrating questions and grilling to get the story.

The only troubleshooters I have respect for are Licensed and trained people who actually build/work on the machine that is broken. Like Carrier or Transicold for example… they are a great example on how to recover a reefer unit on a truck or train.

I support the trouble shooter idea provided they are paid and trained well. Seems to me everywhere a railroad or company turns to try and cut costs, even more costs are incurred.

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Some please explain to my feeble short line mind how cutting half the operation positions…IE conductors creates jobs???[zzz]