Impact of Precision Scheduled Railroading on the Industry

Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Fri Sep 09, 2022 9:42 am Messrs. Olesen and QB, I do not think that the "Big Seven soon to be the Six Pack" have lost their faith in Saint Elwood. As you both note, reopening two "hump" classification yards hardly makes the Saint a heretic.

That the "bottom lines" of all seven Class I's have been enhanced by the "teachings" means they are here to stay. It should be noted even BNSF, which is often considered the best managed Class I, has adopted some "teachings". I'm reminded of that enough times when I'm held up as a manifest crawls through town at 25mph. Hey, you got a fresh crew just going to Galesburg, why burn up all that extra gas just to run @ 50?.

I realize that Labor and some small shippers are "not exactly enthralled" over PSR, but the bottom line comes first. That's how it is in ANY capitalistic society.

If PSR results in angry shippers, angry unions, and a national strike leading to government intervention then it is not going to be good for the bottom line in the long run. Or for investors.

My take on PSR is that it is a great idea in theory. You're reducing slack. However in practice you've reduced slack so much that one hiccup can screwup the whole railroad. The whole thing is starting to remind me of the late Jack Welch's "Six Sigma" nonsense at General Electric.

Ridgefielder wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 7:47 pmIf PSR results in angry shippers, angry unions, and a national strike leading to government intervention then it is not going to be good for the bottom line in the long run. Or for investors.

My take on PSR is that it is a great idea in theory. You're reducing slack. However in practice you've reduced slack so much that one hiccup can screwup the whole railroad. The whole thing is starting to remind me of the late Jack Welch's "Six Sigma" nonsense at General Electric.

You have to look at the marginal above-and-beyond effect of PSR on all constituents against those issues and trends preceding its implementation and also isolate the major impact of an unanticipated 100-year pandemic to make a judgement. Who are those angry shippers and is that anger new? What other workers are angry and leaving their professions? How do you explain the dozens of ships and hundreds of trailer loads of freight also sitting delayed besides trains? What issues have been on-going and long-term before PSR adoption? What is the history of railroad network disruptions and recovery and how does PSR fare against that history?

My take is that PSR isn't going anywhere, except, perhaps, in name only. There's a lot of emotion around it because it has upset some apple carts and is a brand name to be used for better or worse, depending upon the aims. And, really, in the long, strategic nature of railroads it was and still is in the introductory phase of adoption, tweaking and pivoting when the pandemic hit us. Certainly the consequence of the pandemic and resulting service, labor, and following political issues will factor into any "re-thinking", but instead of a PSR rollback, I think focus upon the pivot to growth and use of technology, to a larger degree, and perhaps capital, to a lesser targeted degree, will be more likely.

Probably the best illustrative example of the long-term nature of railroading and the relative infancy of PSR in the US comes with unit trains. After years of a strategy to convert bulk traffic to unit trains, PSR actually wants to reverse that long trend to some degree and given its philosophy of balance and consistency demonstrates the challenge and contrast with what has been a long preceding strategy.
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