CHICAGO — BNSF Railway is working to recover from intermodal service issues in the Chicago area stemming from weather and construction impacts, the railroad informed customers on Friday.
The Corwith, Cicero, Wilow Springs, and Logistic Park Chicago facilities were hit by blizzard conditions Feb. 17-18, leading to major road closures and “reduced productivity at intermodal facilities,” the railroad said in its customer notification. That was followed by extreme low temperatures across the Upper Midwest, which restricted train lengths.
The weather challenges came as BNSF introduced temporary changes at Logistics Park Chicago, its international intermodal facility in Elwood, Ill., to upgrade the terminal’s operating system. Technical issues with that upgrade caused intermittent outages with the automated gate system where drivers enter. The railroad expects a return to normal operation early this week.
BNSF is also beginning a project at its Cicero Intermodal Facility to add 400 parking stalls; construction may lead to periodic delays for customers, the railroad cautioned.
The heaviest amount of snow we got here last week was 6 inches. A far cry from blizzard conditions. And the lowest temps were mid-teens for a couple of nights. If this disrupts the railroad so much then they are in trouble.
Stop attacking your workers, destroying morale, and asking your train crews to pick up the slack for management’s ineptitude and maybe we would be willing to step up. But with record profits, and the companies war on its workforce, you’re going to see a lot more delays, lost business (can you say Schneider = 1 billion dollars lost to UP), and manpower shortages. Employees are leaving in record numbers and new hires aren’t even staying to finish training. BNSF used to be the best Class 1 to work for. Now it’s near the bottom. It used to be said “our employees are our greatest asset” that’s changed to “our employees are our greatest liability”. That’s “corporate America” today.