So many torn out sidings Raritan River RR why?

SemperFidelis wrote:That there is no longer congestion just goes to show how much a factor either true labor costs or actual anti-labor sentiment factors into moves to/from metro NY/Nj.

I seriously doubt anyone takes labor sentiment into account where logistics are concerned. It's all based on time and cost. As noted earlier, lean concepts (thanks, GE) have shifted most companies away from having huge stockpiles of parts or finished goods. It's the same in retail. Neither Amazon, Target or General Motors can stock more than a week's supply of anything anymore. Neither can most assembly or fabrication shops.

I'd guess that dropping a container off in Bethlehem gives it an 8-24 jump on delivery. That can make the difference between meeting their production schedule or shutting down for a day.

As the former spouse of a very high up Human Resources Director for a major online retailer I can attest, unequivocally, that some decisions made are purely due to anti-union sentiment and lack any customer service or fiscal motive whatsoever.

I used to have to buy several bottles of wine and more than a few cupcakes on the days when my former wife's conscience, as she was a strong Democratic voter who just happened to have a Masters in labor relations and who had found a highly lucrative niche basically busting unions, was too shocked to function without those staples.

None of that pertains directly to NS's LV line, but it remains salient.

It may or may not still be an active lawsuit, so I'll just have to speak in general terms about a case I was directly involved in.

A new, foreign and very anti-union company took over a company where I was a Transportation Manager for six plants' transportation needs, one of which used Teamsters for drivers. The new company told me, in no uncertain terms, that the next time I ran the numbers for the plants that I was to "be a team player" and make the Teamsters' numbers look worse than they were in actuality so we could justify the use of more outside carriers. Being a former Marine and Soldier, and having been raised right by two good parents, I lack the lack of character that would have required, so I was removed from employment and ended up having the NLRB take up my case (which they NEVER do for a nonunionized employee as it is outside their mandate) and won a rather hefty settlement from that company.

Sometimes, sad to say, personal biases overcome fiscal prudence.

I'll contact the union on Monday and see if there is still active litigation ongoing in this case. If not, I will be more than happy to share more details.

SemperFidelis wrote: ↑Sat Dec 03, 2022 7:15 am Most customers, except the most environmentally conscious ones, won't care how the container gets to the door, just so long as it does. If I'm being billed X dollars for a load of widgets from a factory in Anytown, USA to my company's warehouse in Popperville, USA (I hope at least one person gets that fictional geographic reference), it doesn't really matter to me if the container said widgets are on ever touches a train, even if I'm being billed by an intermodal freight company or NS or CSX or whomever.

I recall, having worked briefly for Roadrailer/Triple Crown, hundreds of loads that never touched a Roadrailer terminal, much less a train. Intermodal means any mode available. Sometimes that's rail/truck, sometimes it's straight truck.

The vast majority of intermodal moves, it would be worth noting, are billed door to door as one straight bill and whoever sells the transportation of the load of widgets is responsible simply for getting it there, unless a widget manufacturing company prefers to handle the trucking on one or both ends. In those cases, the railroad simply moves the container of widgets from terminal A to terminal B, and, even then, there is an off handed chance that it might end up moving on a truck if NS or whomever finds a carrier willing to move the container of widgets at a lower rate than they themselves could.

That there is no longer congestion just goes to show how much a factor either true labor costs or actual anti-labor sentiment factors into moves to/from metro NY/Nj.

Sorry to bump my own post, but I don't want the meat of it getting lost on page 2 while we renew our union/anti-union debate that concerns only one sentence of it on page 3.

FWIW...(idk if i said this before) but in north jersey, but almost of the carload freight in the 1960/70's was raw materials for manufacturing plants. Containers could not replace this traffic. Almost all the manufacturing was chased out by the state of NJ, real estate developers, and NAFTA.

Warehousing is a central nj thing...Dayton-metuchen-raritan central area. Easy access to 95