Knowledge (XXG)

Precision railroading

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Precision railroading has been criticized on many fronts. Shippers complain about poorer service and delays. Railroad workers have raised concerns about safety due to reduced inspections and staffing. Under PSR, service is typically eliminated on shipping lanes and origin-destination pairs that have
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PSR advocates claim that shippers benefit in the long run from reduced costs and more reliable schedules. However, PSR has been criticized as being focused on short-term financial benefits at the expense of long-term capacity. In particular, Precision Scheduled Railroading is impacting safety due to
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increased train length, up to three miles (5,000 meters) in many cases. This leads to a higher risk of derailments as well as crew stress and fatigue due to the difficulty of operating trains of this length, for which the North American railroad network was not necessarily designed.
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to emphasizing point-to-point freight car movements on simplified routing networks. Under PSR, freight trains operate on fixed schedules, much like passenger trains, instead of being dispatched whenever a sufficient number of loaded cars are available. In the past,
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and other financial and operating metrics at the cost of less-reliable service (particularly to smaller customers), long-term capacity issues, and possibly increased derailments and other safety risks associated with longer trains and crew fatigue.
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have been consolidated, with the railroad relying on trucks for the last hundred miles. Fewer workers are needed, even with higher traffic volumes. As a result, over 20,000 railroad workers were laid off in 2019. The
86:. Inventories of freight cars and locomotives are reduced and fewer workers are employed for a given level of traffic. The result is an often substantial decrease in railroad 253: 238: 155: 186: 390: 330: 107:
after they acquired IC in 1998. After retiring from Canadian National, Harrison was recruited to take over leadership of the
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trains and general merchandise trains operated separately; under PSR they are combined as needed, typically with
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Precision railroading attempts to minimize the number of times on each journey a freight car must be sorted in
269:"Railroads are slashing workers, cheered on by Wall Street to stay profitable amid Trump's trade war" 35: 163: 395: 112: 58: 288: 17: 104: 83: 108: 62: 54: 273: 87: 133:
estimates large freight carriers employed 30% fewer workers in 2022 as compared to 2018.
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and implemented precision railroading there. In March 2017, he was appointed CEO of
254:"Impact of Precision Scheduled Railroading shows up in Class I employment figures" 115:
and began implementing PSR on its large network, but he died eight months later.
213:"'It's Going to End Up Like Boeing': How Freight Rail Is Courting Catastrophe" 66: 74: 289:"STB Issues Hearing Notice for Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service" 29: 349:"Why BNSF is bucking the PSR trend and adding logistics centers" 103:(IC), where he became CEO in 1993. He implemented it at 65:. It shifts the focus from older practices, such as 61:
in 1993, and adopted by nearly every North American
239:"Jury still out on 'precision' railroading in US" 313:"What is Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR)?" 154:Schwartz, Dan; Sanders, Topher (April 3, 2023). 331:"Are We Genuflecting Too Much to Wall Street?" 8: 73:operations, and individual car switching at 367:"It is Getting Worse. People Are Leaving" 146: 38:such as this one in Fort Worth, Texas. 187:"STB Opts for Transparency Over Fiat" 99:Harrison first introduced PSR at the 7: 27:Freight railroad operations approach 25: 267:Long, Heather (January 3, 2020). 156:"The True Dangers of Long Trains" 252:Stephens, Bill (June 26, 2019). 211:Gordon, Aaron (22 March 2021). 47:precision scheduled railroading 18:Precision scheduled railroading 1: 185:Wilner, Frank (9 June 2022). 293:Surface Transportation Board 131:Surface Transportation Board 237:Ashe, Ari (April 5, 2019). 412: 101:Illinois Central Railroad 57:operations pioneered by 391:Rail freight transport 39: 43:Precision railroading 33: 126:Intermodal terminals 124:low traffic levels. 36:classification yards 337:. October 23, 2020. 353:Supply Chain Drive 319:. January 9, 2020. 256:. Trains Magazine. 113:CSX Transportation 59:E. Hunter Harrison 53:) is a concept in 40: 373:. April 25, 2020. 105:Canadian National 84:distributed power 16:(Redirected from 403: 375: 374: 363: 357: 356: 345: 339: 338: 327: 321: 320: 309: 303: 302: 300: 299: 285: 279: 278: 264: 258: 257: 249: 243: 242: 234: 228: 227: 225: 223: 208: 202: 201: 199: 197: 182: 176: 175: 173: 171: 166:on April 3, 2023 162:. Archived from 151: 109:Canadian Pacific 88:operating ratios 63:Class I railroad 55:freight railroad 21: 411: 410: 406: 405: 404: 402: 401: 400: 381: 380: 379: 378: 365: 364: 360: 347: 346: 342: 329: 328: 324: 311: 310: 306: 297: 295: 287: 286: 282: 274:Washington Post 266: 265: 261: 251: 250: 246: 236: 235: 231: 221: 219: 210: 209: 205: 195: 193: 184: 183: 179: 169: 167: 153: 152: 148: 143: 121: 97: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 409: 407: 399: 398: 393: 383: 382: 377: 376: 358: 340: 322: 304: 280: 259: 244: 229: 203: 177: 145: 144: 142: 139: 120: 117: 96: 93: 26: 24: 14: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 408: 397: 394: 392: 389: 388: 386: 372: 368: 362: 359: 354: 350: 344: 341: 336: 332: 326: 323: 318: 314: 308: 305: 294: 290: 284: 281: 276: 275: 270: 263: 260: 255: 248: 245: 240: 233: 230: 218: 214: 207: 204: 192: 188: 181: 178: 165: 161: 157: 150: 147: 140: 138: 134: 132: 127: 118: 116: 114: 110: 106: 102: 94: 92: 89: 85: 81: 76: 72: 71:hub and spoke 68: 64: 60: 56: 52: 48: 44: 37: 32: 19: 370: 361: 352: 343: 334: 325: 317:FreightWaves 316: 307: 296:. Retrieved 292: 283: 272: 262: 247: 232: 220:. Retrieved 216: 206: 194:. Retrieved 190: 180: 168:. Retrieved 164:the original 159: 149: 135: 122: 98: 50: 46: 42: 41: 371:Railway Age 335:Railway Age 191:Railway Age 67:unit trains 385:Categories 298:2022-11-21 241:. Joc.com. 160:ProPublica 141:References 80:intermodal 75:hump yards 396:Logistics 119:Criticism 222:23 March 170:April 3, 95:History 196:9 June 224:2021 217:Vice 198:2022 172:2023 51:PSR 45:or 387:: 369:. 351:. 333:. 315:. 291:. 271:. 215:. 189:. 158:. 69:, 355:. 301:. 277:. 226:. 200:. 174:. 49:( 20:)

Index

Precision scheduled railroading

classification yards
freight railroad
E. Hunter Harrison
Class I railroad
unit trains
hub and spoke
hump yards
intermodal
distributed power
operating ratios
Illinois Central Railroad
Canadian National
Canadian Pacific
CSX Transportation
Intermodal terminals
Surface Transportation Board
"The True Dangers of Long Trains"
the original
"STB Opts for Transparency Over Fiat"
"'It's Going to End Up Like Boeing': How Freight Rail Is Courting Catastrophe"
"Jury still out on 'precision' railroading in US"
"Impact of Precision Scheduled Railroading shows up in Class I employment figures"
"Railroads are slashing workers, cheered on by Wall Street to stay profitable amid Trump's trade war"
Washington Post
"STB Issues Hearing Notice for Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service"
"What is Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR)?"
"Are We Genuflecting Too Much to Wall Street?"
"Why BNSF is bucking the PSR trend and adding logistics centers"

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