WASHINGTON — Federal regulators will require BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific to continue to provide biweekly service progress reports through the end of the year.
The Surface Transportation Board, in a decision released today, said the three systems had not yet made enough progress toward the operations, service, and employment goals they had hoped to reach this month.
But the board let CSX Transportation off the hook, noting that the Eastern railroad consistently has been meeting most of its service improvement targets for several months. CSX, like Canadian National and CPKC, will only be required to provide the STB with expanded weekly performance data and monthly employment figures.
“This is a clear affirmation from the STB of CSX’s leading service performance among the four U.S. Class Is and a direct result of our focus on improving the work experience of our railroaders and improving the reliability and overall quality of the service we provide to our customers,” CSX spokesman Bryan Tucker says.
The STB began requiring the railroads to provide more detailed operating metrics last May amid widespread service problems caused by crew shortages on the big four U.S. railroads. The order was extended in October.
“BNSF, NSR, and UP performance data show continued service challenges relative to the targets the carriers set for their own service improvement by the end of the current temporary reporting period,” the board said in its decision. “While data submitted in recent weeks show some improvement for some performance indicators, these carriers generally are not meeting their service performance targets on average. Therefore, and because service issues continue to affect the network, the Board finds that it must continue to monitor service performance and hiring efforts.”
NS has reached its train and engine crew hiring goals and UP is close to its target, while BNSF has yet to reach any of its employment goals, the STB noted.
The board said that the extended reporting requirements will help it determine whether additional hearings are required.
Gerald, I’m guessing you’ve never worked a physically or mentally challenging job, but the “…or whatever.” part shows an indifference to the ones making you the money and I’m guessing you are upset about it. For decades, companies and employers have held all the cards when it came to paying employees what they think they are worth and treating them how they feel they should be treated. Now that employees are holding the cards, you vulture capitalists don’t like it so much. According to the railroads, these are $130,000 a year jobs (go ahead and do the math to get that figure at just over $30/hour…) and no one will take them. The ones that are there don’t want them. So keep putting down the ones left moving the freight and keep advertising the railroad as a crappy job that humans should just accept their treatment from and serve their masters. You wouldn’t ever dare work under the conditions you encourage for others, so all I have to say is put in your application…we are all waiting to train you.
Katie Farmer seems to be more hard-nosed than expected. It will be interesting to see if she stays that way.
And BNSF thinks Navajo Energy is crazy.
The big surprise in the boards statement is that BNSF has failed to reach “ANY OF IT’S EMPLOYMENT GOALS. ” That from a company which used to be run well. Of course it really upset its train employees with the new missing work requirements they imposed what, over a year+ ago. They slightly altered it but not to the pleasure of employees.
So the word from the STB should be, BNSF clean up your house and get with it.
OR they set too lofty of hiring goals in certain areas and can’t meet them because of a lack of elligible employable people(i.e., clean from drugs and alcohol, no felonies, etc., etc.,). Yeah, I know the T&E people complaine about not having any sick time or what ever…it’s not like the RR is the only business with draconian measure for those that call out sick. I know of a place that basically says unless you’re dead, you come to work or else…that’s draconian.