Taken 05/12/04, near CP Balboa, (sorta the Sylmar/Granada Hills area) 3 units head north or RR west. to either Mojave or Bakersfield. The engine crew wasn't too talkative...while awaiting a southbound Metrolink to pass. The lead unit is a unpatched SP AC4400cw, getting more and more rare as the weeks, days go by...it's been 8yrs since their merger with the UP right? Anyway from what I hear, the UP is really hurting with shortage of crews...I see entire trains tied down due to the 12 hr rule...I even read where the UP cancelled their much ballyhooed UPS hot shot trains (the ones they outbid BNSF on), due to lack of train crews...anyway...today's offering.. [ 15. May 2004, 01:13: Message edited by: NSCALEMIKE ]
You simply cannot run a 79-MPH train among a 40-MPH coal train. If you want all your trains to be profitable, they cannot spend all their time rotting away in sidings! Either build a dedicated main track for ultra-priority stuff, or run the hot trains at the same speed as the drag manifests. BNSF figured it out, and decided they didn't need the UPS contract, but UP had to learn the hard way. These ultra-Z-trains are supremely expensive to operate, cause millions of dollars of lost profit for the railroad, due to all inferior trains (all of the trains on the railroad) waiting in sidings. A train in a siding isn't making money, it's losing it. Don't forget to factor in the crews. Their wages will be higher, due to the railroad not likely to put a new-hire behind the throttle of a overpowered light train. Their veterans and best workers will be crewing these trains. Their wages cost more than a new hire. And since last I checked, crews are paid more as the HP level of the trainis increased for the same tonnage, these crews cost a lot to pay. Add up the crew wage costs, the extra pay for a hot train, dogcatching crews, trains sitting in sidings, and the cost of fuel, these ultra-Z-trains cost more millions than they bring in for profit!
