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Re: The UP vs. BNSF Management Style
Author: Coleman Randall
Date: 02-03-2007 - 17:03
One thing that we have to recall is that when any railroad movement is on the trackage of a given railroad that movement is under the control of the dispatcher which is a part of the railroads management (which I assume is correct). Trains need to proceed down the line in a timely manner or problems can occur like what happened en route to Portola with all those sidetracked on the Amtrak/Key Holidays Charter Feather River Express of Saturday, April 1, 2006 on the siding for those three (3) frieght trains which was inexcusable given the circumstances of it being so close to the destination point for that date which could have made it on it time. Management decisions in a Railroad effect the morale of the employees as well. For an example the BNSF has been known to run Employee Appreciation specials and hopefully other Railroads have done this as well.
Also, note that I was a passenger on that trip and was negatively effected by this situation and observed it first hand.
Also, note that responsible decisions by the dispatcher can get a train to its scheduled crew change location before the crew dies on the time of service law, but giving a passenger train movement constantly low priority that should have a higher priority and not leave it constantly "siding ridden" like what possibly could have happened with the Feather River Express although I'm not sure and I hope it was not the case with its delays.
Just because the freight railroads in general don't like Amtrak or any other affiliated passenger excursion movement they shouldn't remove themselves completely from that obligation to those other railroad movements proceeding in a timely manner and the public that is affected by them as well.
That Steam Crew on the 3985 movement for example should have set a good example to the public when they were in Roseville but didn't and apologizing to them would just give them an incentive to further behave poorly which I will not do. If there is a morale problem among the employees at UP then the management of the Railroad should take appropriate action to allieviate it but apparently because they haven't done it affectively these problems still exist. Effective management sets limits against inappropriate behavior like what happened in Roseville by employees but also effectively preseves good morale among the employees as well.
Of course other Railroads are prone to such problems, although the concern here was over the severity of the problems I had noticed on the UP.
Also, note that I was a passenger on that trip and was negatively effected by this situation and observed it first hand.
Also, note that responsible decisions by the dispatcher can get a train to its scheduled crew change location before the crew dies on the time of service law, but giving a passenger train movement constantly low priority that should have a higher priority and not leave it constantly "siding ridden" like what possibly could have happened with the Feather River Express although I'm not sure and I hope it was not the case with its delays.
Just because the freight railroads in general don't like Amtrak or any other affiliated passenger excursion movement they shouldn't remove themselves completely from that obligation to those other railroad movements proceeding in a timely manner and the public that is affected by them as well.
That Steam Crew on the 3985 movement for example should have set a good example to the public when they were in Roseville but didn't and apologizing to them would just give them an incentive to further behave poorly which I will not do. If there is a morale problem among the employees at UP then the management of the Railroad should take appropriate action to allieviate it but apparently because they haven't done it affectively these problems still exist. Effective management sets limits against inappropriate behavior like what happened in Roseville by employees but also effectively preseves good morale among the employees as well.
Of course other Railroads are prone to such problems, although the concern here was over the severity of the problems I had noticed on the UP.
