Ed, I really think the term is just to be responsive to Wall Street, as the original poster surmised.

That said, with years of experience in this industry, I'd say you need to look no further than the Florida East Coast to see what PSR really is/should be. A highly disciplined schedule that shippers can rely on. But if you miss your gate time, your container isn't going on that train. Thankfully, there is another one not much later. This is why you'll see trailers on their trains from companies that don't do intermodal anywhere else.

In my professional opinion, for a shortline/regional to implement PSR, it isn't necessarily about the size of the railroad, but rather the nature of its operations. PSR by its definition (and you'll note the Class 1s are starting to tailor the theory to meet their operations rather than following Hunter Harrison's model word for word) is all about decreasing dwell time, increasing train velocities, and reducing the number of cars online at any given time. As you can see, these are metrics most shortlines could care less about, other than cars online (and that can be a good metric if they are turning around quickly-- can you say more business?).

So for a shortline/regional to implement PSR, it has to have an operational model where any of those metrics I mention actually matter. The average shortline has no use for PSR, at least by its definition. But most are already doing everything they can to move every car as quickly as possible. Unless you are in the car storage business, the vast majority of shortlines have constrained capacity and are switching in "yards" which might be a track or three. Every inch of every siding is used to work the traffic they have, and turning the cars quickly is crucial to keeping the line fluid (or even operable for that matter).

The only thing I've really seen PSR do so far as far as Class 1 interchange goes is reduce the amount of interchange opportunities as locals are cut back and all the emphasis is placed on handling 14,000 foot trains. I have colleagues connecting with CSX who went from 5-day a week interchange service to once or twice a week, and they are losing their minds trying to be responsive to their customers' needs.

That's about the best I can explain it from my standpoint.