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  • SMS and Paulsboro Refining

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New Jersey

Moderator: David

 #1305734  by ccutler
 
Nice to hear about all those undisclosed derailments at an oil refinery. And was it the operator or the track owner's doing?

Surely nice as well to air corporate conflicts publicly with the STB.
 #1305782  by glennk419
 
ccutler wrote:Nice to hear about all those undisclosed derailments at an oil refinery. And was it the operator or the track owner's doing?

Surely nice as well to air corporate conflicts publicly with the STB.
It is quite clearly stated that PRC is the owner of the track.

SMS was contracted to provide rail service. Were they also contracted to perform track maintenance?
 #1305852  by ccutler
 
Just wondering about the wisdom of these parties airing their complaints about each other publicly. Definitely not blaming anyone for what are hopefully harmless very low velocity minor derailments.
 #1305876  by Ken W2KB
 
ccutler wrote:Just wondering about the wisdom of these parties airing their complaints about each other publicly. Definitely not blaming anyone for what are hopefully harmless very low velocity minor derailments.
It's been my experience that regulated entities will file a complaint with the regulatory agency only once it becomes apparent that efforts to settle the matter amicably have reached an impasse. Perhaps that is what occurred in this situation.
 #1311497  by kamerad47
 
All of the time it's about $$$$$ Someone did some work , the bill was to much , they bring these things up to try to pay less !!!!! It's always about $$$$$$
 #1311811  by bluedash2
 
kamerad47 wrote:All of the time it's about $$$$$ Someone did some work , the bill was to much , they bring these things up to try to pay less !!!!! It's always about $$$$$$
You are correct- it's all $$$$ related. I am not at liberty to discuss the little bit of info I know but yes you're correct.
 #1315451  by bluedash2
 
SMS officailly lost the job last week. Sometime in the forseable future, SGS (no- not Savage) will be taking over. As of now SMS is still working there and the 9069 had mechanical problems and the 301 is fixed and back working there. And no date has been set yet....
 #1315481  by von schlieffen
 
How can it possibly be cheaper for a contractor with no local presence (as far as I know) to provide rail switching service for the refinery, than one whose established base of operations and mechanical facilities is just a few miles down the line? SMS is still at Pureland, Dupont Chambers Works, and Eagle Point-- and on the other side of the river, the industrial park in Morrisville. For an outside provider with no facilities or equipment in the region, relying on personnel specifically relocated here to perform and supervise the work, and having to pay a third party for mechanical repairs and maintenance-- I don't see how the cost of providing the service could possibly be less. This may be about more than just money.
 #1315482  by wolfboy8171981
 
von schlieffen wrote:How can it possibly be cheaper for a contractor with no local presence (as far as I know) to provide rail switching service for the refinery, than one whose established base of operations and mechanical facilities is just a few miles down the line? SMS is still at Pureland, Dupont Chambers Works, and Eagle Point-- and on the other side of the river, the industrial park in Morrisville. For an outside provider with no facilities or equipment in the region, relying on personnel specifically relocated here to perform and supervise the work, and having to pay a third party for mechanical repairs and maintenance-- I don't see how the cost of providing the service could possibly be less. This may be about more than just money.
I'm going to guess the wage they pay will be sub-standard, plus being a non-carrier they may not have to pay RRB either.
 #1315905  by bluedash2
 
SMS does not work DuPont. They will be at Paulsboro til April at the earliest per my source. My understanding is SMS pays into the RR Retirement and some small outfits (like Savage) and others don't. Maybe SGS doesn't. Is that what RRB is?
 #1316837  by bluedash2
 
For all intents and purposes its over for SMS. I was told around April as some legal stuff still has to be done. Also found out SGS plans on only using a two man crew vs the current three. In a nutshell SMS on the mgt end blew it. There's not enough local work for railroads these days as we lost so much industry and greed $$$ can get the best of you. That's what cost them the DuPont job years ago. To their credit they did fix up a lot of the track there that was reportedly in poor shape when CR had that job. They also found out how costly local shifting is and why class ones got rid of a lot of that kind of work...
 #1317646  by bluedash2
 
Came down to the RR wanting too much $$$ and not wanting to sit down with the refinery mgt. Hopefully Westville and Pureland will pick up soon as they are both slow these days. Westville should be picking up as the expansion is progressing to handle more trains per week and CSX is now getting involved on delivering the oil trains there. The first one is up in NY State as if yesterday.