What's next for MMA?

The newly appointed trustee says they will put on 2 man crews if they get the funding? guessing that they are strapped with minimum income coming in with what little freight they are probably hauling. So, I have been told that there is only 4 engineers still working there, and are one man crews only, and if they were to put on 2 man crews that sounds like adding 4 more people to train service. The engineers salary is somewhere around $55,000 a year. So to add 4 more men for just 3 months till the end of the year when they say the railroad should be sold , then that figures out to paying about 13,750 per extra crew member for 3 months of work . x that by 4 and you get 55,000 for all 4 new crew members to work till dec. 31, 2013. This MMA company has always been top heavy with management employee positions and thats seems to be all there is left still working there now[more so than the actual grunt -hands on worker] that the simple answer to this problem would be to lay-off a manager and take his or her salary and split it up to pay the much needed 4 train crew workers and you wouldn't need any " extra funding" to do so. The old saying goes " You can cut and save yourself right in to bankruptcy" and it sounds like this MMA has done just that. my opinion anyways

rootsblown wrote: This MMA company has always been top heavy with management employee positions and thats seems to be all there is left still working there now - more so than the actual grunt -hands on worker

Mr. Roots, I'm hardly about to dispute, but there was certainly an absence of management on the scene at Nantes QC that night in July.

Volks, as I have noted in 'a few' posts to this and related topics. it is one thing to ensure that your property is operated in an economic and efficient manner, but it is something else to have such a cost conscious culture whereby the only employee in the immediate area qualified on train handling was snoozing away in a nearby hotel, and the culture would have had someone 'on the carpet' for rousting him, spending fifty Loon on a taxicab, and I guess more importantly, busting his rest so that the final delivery to Irving Oil in St. John was delayed, was simply 'sick'.

Just think, Lac Megantic would simply be another town at which it is 'Parle français ici'.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:the culture would have had someone 'on the carpet' for busting his rest so that the final delivery to Irving Oil in St. John was delayed.

News accounts have claimed that the oil train was waiting for another "crew" to arrive in about 4 hours, not the same "crew" in more than 8 hours.

Mr.Norman, I agree with you completely when you said that there was an absence of management that evening of July 6,2013. Sad to say that the MMA is trying to put all the blame on the engineer of that train when I believe a proper investigation will provide the answer and will not be blaming the engineer for this whole situation that devastated Lac Megantic.

Mr. Boylan, if there is foundation to the news reports you note at your immediate, and had I been aware of such, my immediate posting should have been written as follows:

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Volks, as I have noted in 'a few' posts to this and related topics. it is one thing to ensure that your property is operated in an economic and efficient manner, but it is something else to have such a cost conscious culture whereby the only employee in the immediate area qualified on train handling was snoozing away in a nearby hotel, and the culture would have had someone 'on the carpet' for rousting him, spending fifty Loon on a taxicab, busting his rest. and I guess delaying a return of MTY's to South Dakota by likely some ten hours, was simply 'sick'.

GBN, I would still err and say waking the engineer would of been a no-no by the Canadian HoS laws posted earlier in this thread. A locomotive malfunction does not constitute an emergency to break their HoS; and I am sure if a disaster would of been seen as 'imminent', the Engineer would of been awaken and taken of his rest.

I have been told that there is only 4 engineers still working there

I was in millinocket yesterday and saw three of the five still employed in Maine. There are probably a couple left in Vermont, and a few in Quebec too.

i've always been amazed at the assumed sanctity of hos rules. some of the posts herein can't pass the straight face test. what are the penalties in 'breaking' a rest? by whom? the stupidity of mm&a operations relative to a high value oil shipment is probably unique in railroading. i would have 2 new 'crew' standing by the track when the train arrived. moreover, with an engine on fire, the off-the-clock 'crew' would remain until the fire was out and railroad mechanical deemed it ready to continue. and please do no state the canard about cost containment. i roughly calculated that mm&a grossed $100k on this move. certainly enough to pay some extra folk and 'break' some hos silly rules. ken patrick

Let "Tuch" explain HOS, at least on the U.S. side of the border: http://www.railroad.net/articles/column ... 100814.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You may think the rules are "silly" but the Union doesn't think so, railroad management doesn't think so, and the Federal government doesn't think so.

KEN PATRICK wrote:i've always been amazed at the assumed sanctity of hos rules.

So are you saying the railroads should just ignore the "silly" HOS rules? If so, are the railroads also at liberty to ignore every other rule they deem to be "silly"?

KEN-
I've just painted three doors in high heat and high humidity, so it's a high state dudgeon in which I find myself, a state in which you also seem to find yourself frequently, despite your actually finding yourself on the Cape. I don't think that many, myself included, would argue your assessment of MMA management, its policies, and its procedures. What many, myself included, would argue is your assessment of safety policies and procedures, whether hours of service, airbrake rules, or any of the other aspects of railroad protocol at which you have metaphorically lobbed WP grenades only to eventually back off when countered with sufficient blow-back by stating that the discussion was interesting and/or informative.
Perhaps you have made the conscious choice to be an agent provocateur. Perhaps it is a matter of predisposition. Whatever the reason, it seems unreasonable for you to expect -- post provocation -- a much less hostile response than you have engendered.
Apologies to everyone else.

I don't get why anyone bothers responding to this guy let alone not have him on ignore.

Back to topic, MM&A Sale by year's end: http://www.wlbz2.com/news/article/25628 ... t-railroad" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

apologies if I already missed this news.

so the assembled cognoscenti defend hos in this tragedy ? is there not a point where reality supercedes bureaucratic 'rules' ?since i don't understand why this move was circumscribed by hos let me further amplify . at no time should hos drive the railroad into leaving an unattended , high-value consist for hours. give me the facts on having folk work longer than 12 hours so as to arrive at a safe transition point. certainly not on a downgrade. certainly not near a railroad intensive town. what fines would be created by waking a person and calling back to duty before the 'rest' period ended? since the average transit time throughout our rail system is only 20mph doesn't it make economic sense to never 'tie down' a train to await a new 'crew'. i sense a union mentality in this so-called 'safety illusion. time to add flexibility. pay double time for hours over 12. give eveyone 5 hour energy drinks. i'm sure everyone would jump at the extra pay. ken patrick

I guess some just don't get that fatigue is a factor, if not the direct cause, of many if not most major incidents (probably including this one).

Would YOU get on the plane to Honolulu knowing the pilot had already driven an hour to work then flown from Denver to Newark and back, with a 2 hour layover, since the last time he slept (nevermind a "full nights rest")?

With all due respect, some around the house carpentry for 16 hours, and operating a moving train for 16 hours, are not in the same galaxy in terms of mental clarity or potential consequence of a misjudgement. Even if you fell asleep, the worst that could happen is you fall off the ladder and break your own neck. And see how you feel after doing 16 hours of carpentry around the house every day for a month...

And as it applies to this case- if no one knew there was an imminent problem, which they apparently didn't or else they wouldn't have just all left when the fire was out, why would they run to bust down the engineer's motel door in the first place? Now, agreed on the point that someone who knew enough to make the call of "problem or not" should have been around... running trains with no qualified persnnel witin many hours travel time in case of a problem or issue is clearly a bad model.

I'm sorry, but I will not put my tail on the line while working under US HoS, when I personally can be fined. I don't think it's in either my best interest, nor the railroads to pay the fines; nor compensate me for said fines ...

http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/585440.pdf

To take enforcement action, FRA inspectors may cite violations and recommend assessment of civil penalties. FRA’s enforcement policy, which is designed to concentrate enforcement efforts on the areas with the greatest potential safety benefits, specifies that before assessing penalties, inspectors should consider the seriousness of the condition or act, the potential safety hazards, and the current level of compliance of the railroad, among other things. FRA has statutory authority to assess civil penalties in the range of $650 (minimum) to $25,000 (ordinary maximum) for ordinary violations of its regulations. FRA may assess a penalty at the statutory aggravated maximum penalty of $100,000 “when a grossly negligent violation or a pattern of repeated violations has caused an imminent hazard of death or injury to individuals, or has caused death or injury.”

I'd like to know what your smoking, and if it's even Rule G compliant.