I worked in the railroad business for 46 years... 15 years in rank-and-file and 31 years in management, all on the east side of the USA. Mr. Burkhart is EXACTLY RIGHT in what he has said. The truth of the matter could not have been stated better.
rehire retired employees, I wouldn't hire one of these new comers. My grandfather worked for the railroad until he retired and in six months was brought back for around twenty more years.
As a conductor for BNSF in Alliance Nebr.I have witnessed 100% of what this man said.This "doing more with less" I have not seen morale in the workforce this bad in 16 years.
@@PatrickJTezak When your company is a component of _Berkshire Hathaway,_ shareholder value is the *only* metric that ultimately matters. That's why someone like Farmer was brought in to run the show. She's out there cutting costs. That's what she is there to do, nothing more - nothing less. The STB has permitted the railroads to merge their way into monopolies (or if a customer is really lucky - a duopoly) so that rail customers have little if any competing rail options. The STB has actually been worse than the ICC that preceded it (which is hard to believe). Having successfully eliminated peer competition - the railroads squeeze the customer (freight rates, rate divisions, demurrage, fuel surcharges), and then they squeeze labor (longer trains, layoffs, furloughs, Hi-Viz) and ultimately - they reward senior management (stock options, bonuses, platinum level retirement pension and medical benefits, golden parachutes, etc). They don't have to worry about losing customers or employees - because they're determined to run the railroads with a smaller workforce than they did 5 years ago, and with an even smaller workforce 5 years from now. They can do whatever they want... and they are doing it.
@@oubrioko Not only in railroads but all over America. I worked for a Fed agency, they’re doing the same thing. College educated “b.s. bingo” players with their genius ideas on the east coast in their daily, multiple teleconferences looking at their “dashboards” on their laptops…without a clue about how things really work or how to make them work. A half-dozen workers doing the actual work at the bottom of the pile with a supervisor and 7 more layers of fat-cat management above so that the ones at the top have no clue whatsoever of what the workers do or what they deal with every day.
As a Metra passenger of the BNSF West Line in Chicago of 28 years I have personally experienced the slow deterioration of reliability of equipment, timeliness, cancelled trains. I can only guess this isn’t coincidental to my experiences.
Railroads are natural monopolies, the idea of competition ignores geography. Outside of massive interchanges like New York City, competition was only ever destructive, as it was in the 1800s, or it was a guise to ward off the N word (nationalization.) There's nothing unique about Hathaway, slashing every regulatory check on capitalism for the last 40 years has made every company put short term profits above all else. Anyone interested should look up the death of Penn Central, the largest corporate bankruptcy until Enron.
You can tell this man speaks from vast experience he is very articulate and concise it's very easy to understand what hes saying even if you aren't a railroader.
@@ericmalarkey1938 We need to get rid of this industry all together, It's not good for anything if they can't manage the waste. There are better options for transporting goods.
When he said that today's yards weren't built with 3-mile-long trains in mind, it made me think of the nice new refrigerator I purchased last year. I checked its measurements online to make sure it would fit in its designated location. It did. However, I neglected to measure the doorway into my kitchen, to see if the fridge would even make through. It didn't. My house is 109 years old, so the builders would've had to first conceive of a refrigerator, then try to imagine how big they might get. Things change as a matter of course, but when you don't want to spend money, you settle for trying to fit your square peg into the old-fashioned round hole, with predictable results.
@@heyyyyyynow the constitution specifically the second amendment has nothing to do with how many bullets a gun can hold....go back and read it again....
On the refrigerator: I was “lucky.” Carpenter ants destroyed my doorway and it had to be replaced. I had experienced problems before, so I replaced my 30 inch door with a 36 inch door. Now it is possible to replace appliances when they need it.
You can tell this man loves and is proud to be railroader but is completely heart broke to see what is happening to it and is determined to turn it around. Salt of the earth.
I am currently a truck driver I was a conductor before I came back trucking the work is very interesting every class one railroad will tell you it’s not for everyone it’s kind of hard to understand what they mean until you’re hired and give it a shot it’s definitely not for everyone there’s a conductor shortage going on I recommend giving it a try it may be your calling you never know!
@@maikitoole5197 Definitely DON'T get in to it because there's a shortage. There's a shortage for a reason, and the companies are purposely pulling strings to cause it.
There's a shortage because of the long hr even after they have down time. They are kept on the trains because of poor communication not to mention they way they are treated.
The big boys could care less about his issues. They're still going to wonder why the works not getting done. Idiots. Each and everyone of them should come out of the field, yet they don't. They hire them from college and then they go out and make these idiotic changes. Unbelievable. And we wonder why America's falling apart! Well said sir. You're sir are a credit to your men.
I agree. Outfit I used to work for, fired almost all the “experienced” yard masters and brought in college kids. Some with 2 year degrees. They knew everything from day one. As a conductor, I could set up my train and have it delivered in 1 1/2 hours. But now she is telling me how to set up my train. She wouldn’t listen to a word I said. Actually, she said, “I know, I went to college”. So over 2 hours go by and I am still trying to deliver my train. With these college kids, all maintenance went out the window. Derailments went through the roof. They laid off almost our whole track gang. Mechanics were also cut. RR crews went from 3 man crews to 1. ( remote control locomotives) I quit before that happened. And people died.
As a Design Engineer, I've seen or heard of managements giving themselves more credit then what they deserve. Railroad, Trucking, Automotive & Manufacturing(the later two I have personal experience w/). I had to design before I could manage. Now, the kids & even the 'Professors' haven't a clue.
@@wanderingfido I don't understand why you're asking your question? Mr. Burkart was explaining to Congressional members how RR management is completely ignorant of how a RR works. Someone w/ an MBA & no experience(RR or otherwise) thinks that making trains longer is an answer. It's not because the management doesn't want to plan & expend the money to accommodate the longer trains by redesigning the track layout. The management thinks it can gain something for nothing. In my experience that rarely happens. Listen to the video again.
As a retired conductor I can tell you everything this man says is the absolute truth. But he might as well be talking to a tree stump, the STB does nothing to hold the railroads accountable. The railroads care nothing about the employees or the customers, I have seen this with my on eyes. I would like to thank the railroad I retired from, for all the extra money they put in my pocket because of the inept train masters and train operations department. 22 hrs on duty waiting on taxis, no relief crews, broke down locomotives, supervisors 300 mile away, this happened quite regularly. A 2 mile long train is a catastrophe waiting to happen, if this ain't stupid enough, the carrier wants to take the conductor off the train. Its no wonder there is a backlog of freight sitting everywhere. Thank God I am away from this shit show.
Nice to hear this subject talked about. I built a train three miles long once in a yard with little to no ability to build long trains. Radio problems were a huge issue with the long trains too. I would always hold it up as high as possible to try and communicate with the engineer to try and avoid issues. Often times I would have to request the YardMaster relay communications. Huge issue for safety. Consolidation is a major issue too. Shutting down yards and forcing more cars into yards that were built so long ago is crazy. Yes removing by YardMasters is also a huge thing. I’ve been to at least 5 or 6 yards where I was the only person making the decisions and when I was a new employee, the only thing that saved me were the engineers knowing what to do. Locomotive issues and servicing locomotives during PSR was an enormous concern. They broke down constantly because of PSR basically making them beaten pieces of junk. This guy was succinct and well informed. Everything he said was on point. The problem is he speaks about it like it’s the back of his hand and everyone hearing him will have no idea what he’s talking about.
EXCELLENT POINTS! Max train length 8,000’ sounds very reasonable. They finally will be able to fit in the sidings. I always felt sorry for the poor conductor who had to walk the two-mile train to find out why it went into emergency. I never thought about the radio limitations. Don’t do more with less - do less with less. So what Warren Buffett makes a few dollars less. More railroaders will be bringing home on the table for their families without having to worry about dying from overwork and dangerous work environment.
I may not be a railroader, but this man makes a lot of sense , promote this man … I think it’s a waste of a railroad to ru. One man crew, on a OMG… three mile train
@@billclements3879 I'm a retired railroader from Union Pacific railroad and I was out there . The bullshit was so deep it made it almost impossible for all of us to do our jobs every day and not do something to get pulled out of service . I had a great boss that stood behind me 100% and saved my ass three times from a jerk official that wanted to fire me . Just doing my job safely and by the rule books . Thanks for your reply .
All I hear right now is the corporate brass yelling "QUIET, SENSE-TALKING PERSON!" and then mumbling between each other about how they thought they had rolled off or retired all the old boots. In my division, anyone with a management title has never been in the field before. Most of them have never thrown a switch or laced a hose, and none of them are qualified to operate a locomotive. When I hired out more than 20 years ago, everyone in management started from somewhere in the company at an entry level position and made their way up to the position they were at now. Every one of them could mentor less experienced employees by sharing their own personal experience with them. Now these managers have a title and an MBA but no common sense and no value to the position they hold.
It's good to hear from somebody on the ground. I applaud you doing your job in all conditions. Without the rr we would die. The rr has always been an important part in the building of our country. Unfortunately, CEO's profit from your good work, but that is the way of the world.
On top of educated idiots running our railroads, they also rule by numbers. They say, oh you have this many cars in your yard so you can take this many more! Deal with it. They don't account for bad orders or other stuff taking track space. Only, you got this much so squeeze it in there. Hurry the hell up, but be safe....but hurry the hell up.
this corporate sickness started even BEFORE twenty years ago... As far back as the mid to late 90's CP Rail was hiring pipsqueaks fresh out of college with a degree in marketing to work as trainmasters... fucking joke.
This gentleman impressed the F*ck out of me. So knowledgeable and he knows his job inside out. Hey Warren, this is the guy that ought to be running YOUR railroad, wise up!
Like any other business, the grunts do the work while management does everything it can to screw things up. The managers are taught economics and business practices, and usually know little about how a railroad operates. It is sad this guy has so much knowledge but in the end management won't listen to him. He was smart enough to go back into the Union. As with most businesses, Union employees are the smartest employees, and what they don't know, the Union teaches them. In the end the railroads will keep accidentally making money (they are a monopoly) and no one dare tell them what to do. A good example is all the and triple track they tore up. Bet they wish they had that extra track now. Look at other countries' rail lines; they have multi tracks. Like everything else in the US, money talks and politicians dare not jeopardize their donations from railroads, or any other large corporation. Check out all the container trains running. That should tell everyone "supply chain issue" is a big hoax used to raise the price of everything and drive the US into recession (or depression) while Russia and China sit back and watch. It makes me wonder why we get most things we need to live from our worst enemy (China). Again the politicians let it happen and we pay for their stupidity. Happy $5 a gallon gas!
lets see The Prr went broke over triple track and quad track the UP rr has triple track tRACK from Gibbon Nb to North platte Nb . cajon Pass has Triple Track Ns has triple track o horse shoe curve. property run double Track can move over 100 trains a day. Con rail toledo West moved over 100 trains a day double track CTC. no the Problem is Todays Management Why we need thing from China i dont Know, You Would think the Us would have learned from its 1973 OPEC spanking
I've seen a lot of Unions steal the advantages they're supposed to be giving their members, but my God when management is this bad, Unions are the last stand against railroads from turning into a corporate monster machine
If this guy isn't qualified to speak on the conditions of US railroads right now then NOBODY is. He is absolutely right, you just can't keep cutting back on people and not expect it to have a negative impact on the industry. Hopefully somebody is paying attention to what this yardmaster is saying, good on him!
This guy knows his stuff I’ve seen it with my own eyes myself with the railroad in Alabama it’s not too much different A lot of old heads told me that I worked with previously was telling me the amount of time it takes to do a job compared to years ago
I worked mow 40 yrs for bnsf, retired July 13th 2018, the last 10 to 15 yrs were miserable. My opinion was there were people that NEVER worked RR and tried to run it like any other business without the understanding of what it takes to run a RR. You cannot operate it like just another business.
Exactly. Pulling roadmasters straight out of college trying to tell a bunch of men how to do their job. If this next agreement isn't a good one many more people will leave. We're 2.5 yrs without a contract talking about no back pay and minimal raises all while raising Healthcare costs
@@stevang4720 Yeah and the Teamsters merger was the end of any decent contracts. Really couldn't call many of them good. I started in '78 and the hourly rate doubled by '83, that was the best period in my 40 yrs. It just sound idiotic what's going on now. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it anymore. Good luck!
"why dont you have engines? Well we shipped em to St. Louis and turned em into razor blades" holy smokes this guy. He's got it figured out for sure, he deserves CEO of BNSF but they wouldnt do it because they know he'd do it the right way and turn that joint upside down.
I work for CN in Canada and this also applies here. We run 3 mile long trains at 0.4HPT at a fraction of track speed. It's not about servicing customers or the economy. It's all about profits. Precision scheduled railroading is flawed in so many ways
Less employees and larger trains. This BNSF gentleman is correct in his statements. I'm retired from the railroad, i saw how the RR, downsize, eliminate yards, combine work loads to other locations, all doing this with less employees.
he said he was fired for getting crossways with some VPs thats a problem a lot of people experience because 99% of people In charge can't be told crap , they know everything nobody has a good idea but them
In the race to be "darlings of Wall Street" railroad management has created the problems that this man points out...railroads continue to lose business to trucks. NS, after thousands of layoffs to "save money" did manage to find the money to build new headquarters in Atlanta....BEAN COUNTERS HAVE NO BUSINESS RUNNING RAILROADS!
The other day we had 3 car setoff on the rear of a 13,500 foot train. The conductor was fairly new and asked how do we are normally do this. I said "I don't know, your radio is only good for 5000 feet on its best day."
On top of his excellent and articulate railroad testimony, I loved the almost casual "when I got out of the Marine Corps" comment. Only a fool would ignore this man's testimony.
In June of 2020, i made the decision to retire from NS after 41 years of service starting with Southern railway in 1979. I had not intended to retire for at least 2 more years because I always enjoyed my job in the mechanical department and the people I worked with, but things were spiraling out of control so badly that I was concerned for my own life as well as my coworkers lives! Safety had done an exit, stage left, and sideswipes, runaways etc. had become commonplace because of severe manpower shortages due to widespread (unnecessary) furloughs, the few management people left were working literally months at a time without any off days, and absolutely no one knew what was going on because what little communication happened was usually incorrect! I worked at a large classification yard in Linwood, NC that had a large freight car repair shop and a large locomotive servicing terminal and running repair shop. As the PSR farce gained momentum, they announced the closure of the entire facility, with nearly all mechanical employees furloughed, but far fewer transportation employees sent home. To make matters even more ridiculous, they announced that linwoods train operations would be scattered to several other facilities, mainly old Spencer Yard and Pomona Yard in Greensboro! Both of those facilities are ancient, sadly maintained, cramped, and in the case of Pomona, already badly overworked! Spencer was only lightly used due in part to the fact that crossties were nonexistent and much of the yard would flood when it rained much! They pumped millions into Spencer to attempt at making it useable including installation of a mobile office, a compressed air building and related yard piping, and a purely cosmetic crosstie project! Pomona instantly gridlocked and operations at Spencer were an exercise in futility, while Linwood, less than 5 miles from Spencer and around 40 from Pomona, sat idle! Pomona also got an air system upgrade, but the truth is that Linwood had all that along with the appropriate structures to make it all work, so if we’re going to “rationalize” facilities, why not keep the huge yard and move the smaller points work there! I’m sure it made some management stiff look good telling the Board of Directors “ I eliminated a major terminal today”, while keeping it under his hat how much they spent at Spencer and Pomona! FF to 2022 and Spencer is once again a ghost town, nothing there now despite the money spent, and Linwood is back open, albeit without the hump operation and mechanical shops. But boy the hedge fund crowd got much richer as they decimated the once proud railroads of America! And, oh yea, the same people they booted out the door in 2020 are now being begged to return due to massive manpower shortages! In a twist of poetic justice, the majority of them are laughing and hanging up! The feds should have stepped in two or three years ago and stopped this farce, but they stood back and did NOTHING! A travesty!
@@tomt9543.... it's All being done on purpose, Tom.... why? Because they're in the final phase of setting the US0fA up, for the final take down... literally. By 2025, this country will be pretty well "gone". It all started (in earnest) with FDR's administration.... and they are now within reach of finishing us off. This year, in April... the first, World Government Conference was held in Dubai, and of course the globalist's are now well on their way, through their Long ago planned (late 1970's) "necessity" to Depopulate the world ("at some point in the first quarter of the next century" [21st]), and especially the USofA.... through manufactured "diseases & vaccines", starvation / famines and wars.... which, according to Prince Charles a few years ago, "will be ongoing until most of the current population is exterminated, and those who are left.. fully compliant to the NWO" (New World Order). This "winding down" of production of Everything and the global shipping thereof... is because they (Jacob Rothschild, Klaus Schwab, Noval Harari, B. Gates, G. Soros, all of the WEF, etc, et el) know that there is Not going to be a population, large enough left, within the next 2-3 years to make use of it all. When you know that you're about to "raise" (re: implode) an office building, or even your home... to make room for either a new development, or just to get rid of it... you do Not leave all your valuables and things of importance in those structures, you remove it first, and then transfer it to a new location or whatever. The transfer of our manufacturing and the expertise thereof was transferred Out of the US to China (mainly), in advance to imploding this country. This is also why, they began the "dumbing down" (1978/79) process ("Goals 2000") of the kids, through the public "education" school system, instead of raising them up to truly become useful, successful, thinking (common sense) people.... because the "powers that be" on this planet, have known for many decades "where" they were taking all this, and that the vast majority of the populace would be "gone" by 2025 /2030 at the latest. As Klaus Schwab declared at this years WEF conference in Devos (Switzerland)... "you will own Nothing, and you will be happy".... pertaining to All who are left, and Not part of the global governing "elite", and privileged others of key importance in the world. There may very "possibly" be Less than 100 million people still alive by 2025 /2026 in the US.... very sad to say. ALL of this, was prophesied in detail throughout the Bible, well over 2000 years ago. We know, how it all ends and we're now, solidly in the last days of that final generation.... it is going to get increasingly and exponentially worse over the next 5 or so, years, on every level, including the weather... from here, on out. We all need to make sure our "spiritual house" is in order.... because in the end, that is All that Really matters, anyway. Blessings to you and yours.
The worst departments and the departments that do the most damage to a company after top management is HR with their self important titles of HR Specialist and HR Practitioner. These fancy titles putting their heads in the clouds are given to people who are admin people at root level. Have absolutely no interest in the core business of the company. Feel absolutely nothing for the staff and are often so bombastic over the lesser mortals. They also seem to forget who is bringing the money into to company but will go to great lengths to chummy up to management and influence them. You can see by my writings I have experienced this from HR. All was well in the days of the Personal Office. But when it became HR, these nobody's became "professionals". One company I worked for, the HR Practitioner had real attitude. Everyone knew the GM did what she told him. Colleague was called to support an "accused" at a hearing but was told by HR what to say thus the poor accused had no chance. She wanted him fired and pre-condemmed him. Nobody ever noticed she could not keep an asdistent. They all left shortly afrer starting work. Nobody argued with her! Over inflated egos the litbofvthem.
I hired on with the NS as a Trainmaster out of Conway Terminal Hump Yard. I loved that job and the people I managed, but it I couldn’t stand the way the company treated myself, my colleagues, and my men on the ground. No men, no locomotives or people to maintain them, giant trains, and infrastructure built for much smaller trains. I made it two years and learned a lot from some very knowledgeable railroaders particularly my yardmasters. Left after two years and went to a short line where the class one mindset is slowly creeping in due to people leaving class ones and taking their class one mentalities with them.
I've been in intermodal now going on nine years. The company I drive for had 44 loads stuck in a rail 400 miles from us. for a month. We had to get them trucked to us for us to deliver. I trust what this gentleman is saying.
dito that. i have train watch 75% of that route. it is mostly flat not much big curves very little hills use to be a lot of double track now has long passing sidings
Hunter dreamed this stupid PSR up while on the IC. Rammed it down our throats on the GTW/CN. It always was b.s., but it made him rich because Wall Street ate it up. Unfortunately all the other RRs saw the money made and operating ratio drop so Hunter's acolytes spread it to the other Class 1s. It doesn't work, never did, never will.
My paternal grandfather& an uncle worked & retired from the railroad after 50 years. My dad worked for the railroad laying rails before I was born & had to move on as work slowed in the Dakotas. I Love trains!
My ex and his new wife work for BNSF and I pray for their and your safety. I used to fly for the airlines I know how complicated railroad contracts can be. Stand together brothers and sisters stand unified in your union for a safe workplace, someday our children/grandchildren will work there. .
Sad truth is we need a person like mat in a higher position like the senate to improve the transportation of goods and services and utilities in this country… this administration of our government is taking us down a track like a runaway train. We need Americans for America. God bless America!!! Thank you Mat for speaking the truth. We are listening, stay united stay strong.
I am curious, which administration allowed the deregulation of this industry and thus allowed these monopolies/duopolies to exist that cater only to the bottom lines for their shareholders? I see you refer to "this administration", but this has been going on for years; do you mean the current administration that is not yet two years old caused this problem?
@@nitrousmoxide2629 It's more or less a bureaucratic problem that's been festering for decades, if not centuries. Few, if any, presidential administrations try to streamline or get the bureaucracy working right for common people.
@@bakerboat4572 Thank you for the meaningful reply. The more that I learn about railroad operations and how they have changed over time, I am seeing that it's looking like profit blinds the decision makers and they forget the people that do the actual work. It would seems the companies involved could obviously afford to hire more engineers and run more locomotives, as well as other positions down the line to operate safely and efficiently. I know these companies say they want to create more jobs, but it's so frustrating to see that over and over, they want these people to "do more with less" so they have no personal or family time and are expected to "man up because that's how it is if you want the job". America can do much better.
Best testimony I've seen....others spent.lots of wasted time talking about grade crossing blockage and the ex FRA Admin talking about the dramatic reduction in head on collisions! Really? The ripple effect of dwell time delays, the PSR elimination of any ability to respond quickly to variance (Just in Time instead of Just in Case). "Power/Crew/Rail": great example of stripping away the chaff and focus on the salient issues.
here is the problem. you have politicians with agendas that only serve them. they don't care about the country. you have people in this country that are selfish and only care about themselves and they vote for the bad politicians. there is also a little thing called affirmative action. today its called "diversity". we need to get rid of that trash. a person should be hired for what they know PERIOD! we need to get standards back up. we can't afford to care about the hurt feelings of someone that just isn't smart enough to do a certain job. life has costs. you can't defer those costs.
Joe hear loud and clear and yes our puppet politicians are selling out to every Marxist ideology know to man. And destroying the values of U.S.A. Freedoms. Need to let some of these misguided youth really know where their headed. Our politicians in office need to rethink the agenda they propose it’s not worth all the tea in china.
This is what happens when companies focus on stock prices and shareholders and not their actual business. You get decisions that spark share price increases and positive PR about efficiency and high tech when in reality, it's the total opposite and more often than not, makes things worse.
The railroads own TTX. PSR means more cars sitting longer, and the stock price rises when more cars are in use because of the stake in TTX. Follow the money.
I live in South Texas along Highway 77 I have never seen so much real traffic and trains that are so long in my entire life and I’ve lived here 46 years.
My favorite is when they are shoving cars and they block a RR crossing for twenty minutes because they don’t want to shove an extra 40 ft, making traffic five miles long. My father in law is retired RR executive and the stories he has from railroading would make you think they are a bunch of dumb sons of bitches and it’s a miracle the railroads function the way they do.
I worked in RR business 36 years locomotive department. When I started, promoting from the ranks was common and your management understood RR. In the 90’s they started hiring managers who had a degree but no clue on RR. We called them “pin heads”…….things changed and not for the better. I could write a book about it the arrogance,incompetence and stupidity of most of them it was unbelievable. I retired in 2010 and my friend just did…… he said everything that made RR a wonderful career is gone the “pin heads” made sure of that! RR’s like BNSF, UP, CSX etc are just to big to fail. If you ran a small business like they do you’d go out of business!
DUDE! You Hit the Spike Right on the Head! They hire idiots as 'Management Trainees'. They put them on an outbound train to our 'Away from Home Terminal' and then ride a train back. Now they're 'TRAINMASTERS' But they don't need to know anything because WE KNOW HOW TO RAILROAD. All they do is 'Hide in the Bushes' to issue 'Operations Testing Failures' to MAKE THEM SELVES LOOK GOOD! As if they knew what they were doing. Our latest '90 Day Wonder' blundered a few moves that caused a late departure. So, being the rocket scientist he was he put the blame on ME(I've got 37 years) saying(You better be sitting down)that the train was late because I "didn't share my 'Track Condition Messages' with my hoghead. I'm sure he thought that he had Busted a 'Big Dog'. His supervisors know me very well and told him to rescind it which he did. He left the railroad after a few moths, moved out of state. His wife served him with Divorce Papers so he shot her to death and then committed suicide. It made the news. So, I think this is supporting evidence to your comment.
@@bakerboat4572 for sure . I knew the founder of the Wisconsin Central RR a great short line . He was a senior manager on the CNW . A real leader…he respected us and we respected him😎
My father and grandfather each worked for the Frisco, now part of the BNSF, for over forty years. He hated the BNSF after the merger and said the BNSF cared nothing about the railroad business and just viewed it as a way to get cash to invest in other businesses.
I cannot believe that on a train hauling 15000 tons that the profit margin is so razor thin the railroads cannot afford two or even three people to man them. Spoiler alert: If the margins are THAT thin they don't deserve to survive.
MOW out of Lincoln Ne here, I've been noticing much less traffic lately. We call those long trains mega trains and its been quite awhile since we've seen them. Let's see where this contract deal with the PEB goes. Many places are hiring with the same pay and benefits.....when I first hired on I thought I'd retire here. Not so sure of that now. Morale is terrible.
All these big companies will take someone with a degree in anything over an experienced employee who knows what's going on . That's why UPS failed with UPS freight that's one reason BNSF is failing
maybe. but that's not what mgmt needs. mgmt for the RR's need to enhance shareholder earnings. mgmt and shareholders do not give a rat's ass about making the railways work (safely or otherwise...). they care about getting as much profit as possible. railways are businesses and if there's away to keep them profitable then do it. as for the country suffering well... they tend to think in the current way of doing business and making money: there are winners and there are losers... very sad and discouraging but it ain't gonna change anytime soon and face it, congress is NOT going to hold anyone's feet to the fire: railways contribute too much money - congress won't bite the hands that feed them.
Mandate train length? Not likely. Mandate that no train on any district be longer than the shortest passing siding? That could be easy enough to understand.
1700 Mousette Ln East St. Louis IL 62206 looking west. Several been sitting there for quite sometime. Those must be the ones they are going to turn into razor blades. Sad part is they all look pretty nice. You can see them on Google Street view also.
This is what happens into a long train together. But will the government officials listen to them? Management is bed with the officials. The workers and the customers suffer.
Holy fuck, this guy is a railroader. You can tell with managers out here whether they came from the craft or not pretty easily. When they talk confidently, precisely, and aren't afraid of the truth, you know they started pounding the ground and pulling pins. "We derailed there last year, we derailed there this year, and we'll derail there again." This is a good old fashioned genuine railroader that cares about his train/trains. No wonder they pushed him out of the big wigs... That being said, guys like this in local leadership are what keep the railroad running. Thank you for speaking out.
wanna fix the railroads ... the STB should mandate that all c-suite employees MUST work 1 year as an assistant conductor before they can qualify to work on any railroad in the country in the c suite. watch how fast things change
2:50 TIME. As a former taxi driver, running train crews (CN and CP) in Alberta, i see the 'problem' as the same, with ALL MODERN transportation. Trains/Trucks/Planes, all too large, for 80 + year old ' infrastructure'. I've been a semi owner, in the late 70;s early 80's. The same problem/issues exist with highways/trestles/bridges/overpasses, narrow old crossings, with the train rails on an upward arch; causing lowboy truckers, to get ''hungup'. (high centred, on trailers). There is not much one, can do in the train railyards, except maybe RE-ENGINEER THEM ALL, for 2 mile long trains. (10,000 + feet). The longest train, i heard of, was an engineer from Red Deer. In the taxi van, i asked them (him and conductor) what was the longest train he ever 'drove'. Turns out, he said 3 miles long. ......Anyway, hang in there, folks ! If you bought something, it came on either/or both, a train and a truck of some type/size.
Hi from UK! Former UK driver (retired) railways are 3 things trains track and staff! What gets in the way the world over is dollars pounds euros rupees etc Trains should be state run by the state for the state
No thanks. Governments never runs anything effeciently. It's the dollors, pounds euros, etc. that make things move. Customers is what really drive inovation.
Hmmm... BNSF "operating margin" increases yet carloads shipped continues to decrease and rail car dwell time increases. Something just doesn't add up here.
And the powers that be will hear every word, and ignore them, cos they know better. Boy and man, that man know his job, it's his heart and soul. It counts for nothing if no one is listening. In military terms if you want a job done you need boots on the ground!!!!
The biggest problem is wall street greed and the legacy of hunter Harrison, who pioneered PSR in Canada and the first thing to go out the window was safety
Pin pulled close to 29 years on the UPRR. No truer words spoken, the employees were treated like part of the problem and not part of the solution while management fumbled their way through one self created disaster after another. The Senior Management got the junior management to do it because they monetized it.
There's a problem right there guy is 80 years old been bought off by these railroads for years you want positive change get these people on the panel off
He left them all behind at "I am a yardmaster". The sense of accomplishment must be second nature with his crew. Nowadays it's crybaby HR Dept catering everybody's wussy hurting every other day crap
This man is speaking 100% truth. 1 added bullshit measure Canadian RRs have added is throttle restrictions. As such, average train velocity is about 25 miles per hour at best. As a result, crews run out of time and need to be rescued, requiring more crews to run trains. We get staged outside of terminals because they can't handle the constant 11000+ trains that have work. Thus, requiring rescues and more people. All to keep the RRs running like the worst concept possible of a conveyer belt. Not possible when you shit on your people, equipment and customers. No possible!
I worked for CSX for 4 years and in that time I seen that we were going fucking absolutely backwards in the fucking shit that we were told to do as a conductor building trains I can identify with everything this man says
Thats why the US air lines stayed away from the Air Bus A380..they could not fill this plane fast enough with passengers or cargo or land it at every airport. I was in trucking for 33 years with one company, if you pack and stack a trailer from nose to tail for 3 days..its going to take that long to unload it, plus the distance it travels plus the number of terminals it has to go through till reaches its destination. My company wasn't coast to coast but we we're 99% next day delivery, meaning if you ordered something within our system , we could get it to another terminal that day and out for delivery the next. and we didn't charge extra for that. Do Not ship with YRC...they don't care about time...they don't care about their employees..they just care about rates....
I remember when Donkey Creek was built and it’s a true shame not seeing it utilized what it was meant to be. I’ve work all 126 miles on the Orin line up to donkey creek. He isn’t lying that it’s used to store Locomotive engines in the masses!
The industry couldn't have s more knowledgeable, articulate representative. If the problems are not solved it is clearly the fault of our legislatures.
I know a lot of railroaders and they all have similar storys. My brother worked for the railroad, when we would go fishing I would here of all the stupid things management would do. I used to look forward to some of them but it became too depressing. Also all the things stupid or lazy employees would do and yet they were protected by the union and could care less about the railroad. Yes, there are problems on both sides and unfortunenatly our whole country is on the same track. It boils down to greed, from the investors all the way down to the laborer who want's to get paid but not work.
Hi Humble Wisdom, you are making a great "sound remark" - I fully agree with you that we have bad apples on both sides of the equation, management/leaders and "workers"/union - sadly enough, contrary to the ol' days, there is little if any "selectiveness" based on performance or merit anymore. Unfortunately, as you eloquently mentioned, we are all "on the same track" in our nation... no pun intended. It is as if our entire country has become a "Walmart" and its population.. the shoppers. The lowest/poorest performers dictate the production and identity of the company. Being a Baby Boomer, I remember when "Made in America" was a symbol of quality and durability. There was pride at any level of the work force, from the gas station attendant (remember the hat and bow tie?) to the automotive engineer who design a car that had "character" that one could "fix" to a certain extent. We dressed to invite a girl out back then, music production meant true artists and real "words", we respected our seniors... behavior boundaries were set from family, church, school, youth organizations (Boy/Girl Scouts, 4H, cadets, military...), all the way up the chain. We were not perfect but we were getting better.. We put the man on the moon!... What happened to the America I grew up in? May God help us and may Peace be with you, Ciao, L (Veteran)
@@lancelot1953 mostly agree but language evolves and so does music and tolerance of others should be considered... I think condemning a song for using words not found in merriem webster or your bible is inconsiderate of the millions of brown or not 100 year old white people who use them and relate to them daily. The numbers dont lie, rap is here to stay, so is techno, metal, noise...and if you dont like it, it was designed that way :} oh and do please invite the archduke of Levingham Hills to do his impersonation of the negroids guitar or their white impersonators during the operas intermission, his critique of the talking pictures is likewise an enduring pleasure to behold. Plebian ignorance is making a mockery of gods music. This jazz nonsense is truly barbaric squelching more akin to a water closet than a performance hall. Oh and write president and ask for prohobition again. And slaves, what truly made America $o $o so great. Nice chat sir lancelot, do speak softly and forget nay that big stick, see you at the fraternal rally tonight! What color robes? Silly question, white is always right!
He make 100% sense! No wonder why he was fired as management!!
I worked in the railroad business for 46 years... 15 years in rank-and-file and 31 years in management, all on the east side of the USA. Mr. Burkhart is EXACTLY RIGHT in what he has said. The truth of the matter could not have been stated better.
I work in MOW department. Many derailments in same sub within 6months.
100% accurate. We need more experienced, realistic, and intelligent people exactly like him in every profession.
They’re all retiring. Sadly, our youth couldn’t handle his job.
They cost too much.
Makes no sense. Lol
rehire retired employees, I wouldn't hire one of these new comers. My grandfather worked for the railroad until he retired and in six months was brought back for around twenty more years.
@@1rmrider if that generation was so profoundly intelligent and hard working how did they manage to raise children so fucking worthless?
As a conductor for BNSF in Alliance Nebr.I have witnessed 100% of what this man said.This "doing more with less" I have not seen morale in the workforce this bad in 16 years.
Mrs Farmer has definitely helped destroy morale! We're treated like replaceable numbers instead of valuable employees.
@@PatrickJTezak When your company is a component of _Berkshire Hathaway,_ shareholder value is the *only* metric that ultimately matters. That's why someone like Farmer was brought in to run the show. She's out there cutting costs. That's what she is there to do, nothing more - nothing less. The STB has permitted the railroads to merge their way into monopolies (or if a customer is really lucky - a duopoly) so that rail customers have little if any competing rail options. The STB has actually been worse than the ICC that preceded it (which is hard to believe). Having successfully eliminated peer competition - the railroads squeeze the customer (freight rates, rate divisions, demurrage, fuel surcharges), and then they squeeze labor (longer trains, layoffs, furloughs, Hi-Viz) and ultimately - they reward senior management (stock options, bonuses, platinum level retirement pension and medical benefits, golden parachutes, etc). They don't have to worry about losing customers or employees - because they're determined to run the railroads with a smaller workforce than they did 5 years ago, and with an even smaller workforce 5 years from now. They can do whatever they want... and they are doing it.
@@oubrioko Not only in railroads but all over America. I worked for a Fed agency, they’re doing the same thing. College educated “b.s. bingo” players with their genius ideas on the east coast in their daily, multiple teleconferences looking at their “dashboards” on their laptops…without a clue about how things really work or how to make them work. A half-dozen workers doing the actual work at the bottom of the pile with a supervisor and 7 more layers of fat-cat management above so that the ones at the top have no clue whatsoever of what the workers do or what they deal with every day.
As a Metra passenger of the BNSF West Line in Chicago of 28 years I have personally experienced the slow deterioration of reliability of equipment, timeliness, cancelled trains. I can only guess this isn’t coincidental to my experiences.
Railroads are natural monopolies, the idea of competition ignores geography. Outside of massive interchanges like New York City, competition was only ever destructive, as it was in the 1800s, or it was a guise to ward off the N word (nationalization.)
There's nothing unique about Hathaway, slashing every regulatory check on capitalism for the last 40 years has made every company put short term profits above all else.
Anyone interested should look up the death of Penn Central, the largest corporate bankruptcy until Enron.
As an Australian I’d like to thank this man and all who helped him get 60 trains of grain to us in a month during our terrible drought.
Bent tracks EVRAZ- Rio Tinto
Highly impressed with how he presented the facts.
You can tell this man speaks from vast experience he is very articulate and concise it's very easy to understand what hes saying even if you aren't a railroader.
Hearing people actually profess honest passion for American rail gives me hope.
Hope for what?
@@musiccitymanpresents a better America rail. Duh
What would you consider better?
@@musiccitymanpresents more track
Edit: the root of the issue.
@@ericmalarkey1938 We need to get rid of this industry all together, It's not good for anything if they can't manage the waste. There are better options for transporting goods.
When he said that today's yards weren't built with 3-mile-long trains in mind, it made me think of the nice new refrigerator I purchased last year. I checked its measurements online to make sure it would fit in its designated location. It did. However, I neglected to measure the doorway into my kitchen, to see if the fridge would even make through. It didn't. My house is 109 years old, so the builders would've had to first conceive of a refrigerator, then try to imagine how big they might get. Things change as a matter of course, but when you don't want to spend money, you settle for trying to fit your square peg into the old-fashioned round hole, with predictable results.
It's like when they wrote the constitution here in the U.S. They had muskets, not high capacity rapid fire weapons.
@@heyyyyyynow They also didn't have the internet, so I think you should be quiet out of respect to your forefathers ignorance.
@@heyyyyyynow So stop whinging and see if you can pass a constitutional amendment.
@@heyyyyyynow the constitution specifically the second amendment has nothing to do with how many bullets a gun can hold....go back and read it again....
On the refrigerator: I was “lucky.” Carpenter ants destroyed my doorway and it had to be replaced. I had experienced problems before, so I replaced my 30 inch door with a 36 inch door. Now it is possible to replace appliances when they need it.
You can tell this man loves and is proud to be railroader but is completely heart broke to see what is happening to it and is determined to turn it around. Salt of the earth.
I’m a truck driver...always wanted to get into railroads...know nothing but the basics....I completely understood what he said.
I am currently a truck driver I was a conductor before I came back trucking the work is very interesting every class one railroad will tell you it’s not for everyone it’s kind of hard to understand what they mean until you’re hired and give it a shot it’s definitely not for everyone there’s a conductor shortage going on I recommend giving it a try it may be your calling you never know!
@@maikitoole5197 Definitely DON'T get in to it because there's a shortage. There's a shortage for a reason, and the companies are purposely pulling strings to cause it.
There's a shortage because of the long hr even after they have down time. They are kept on the trains because of poor communication not to mention they way they are treated.
@@oldchunkofcoal2774 The guy is coming out of trucking. He is used to it. There is a truck driver shortage for nearly the same exact reasons.
The big boys could care less about his issues. They're still going to wonder why the works not getting done. Idiots. Each and everyone of them should come out of the field, yet they don't. They hire them from college and then they go out and make these idiotic changes. Unbelievable. And we wonder why America's falling apart! Well said sir. You're sir are a credit to your men.
I agree. Outfit I used to work for, fired almost all the “experienced” yard masters and brought in college kids. Some with 2 year degrees. They knew everything from day one. As a conductor, I could set up my train and have it delivered in 1 1/2 hours. But now she is telling me how to set up my train. She wouldn’t listen to a word I said. Actually, she said, “I know, I went to college”. So over 2 hours go by and I am still trying to deliver my train. With these college kids, all maintenance went out the window. Derailments went through the roof. They laid off almost our whole track gang. Mechanics were also cut. RR crews went from 3 man crews to 1. ( remote control locomotives) I quit before that happened. And people died.
Have you ever heard the claim that "an MBA can run *any* company"? They're partly right; an MBA can run any company... INTO THE GROUND!
As a Design Engineer, I've seen or heard of managements giving themselves more credit then what they deserve. Railroad, Trucking, Automotive & Manufacturing(the later two I have personal experience w/). I had to design before I could manage. Now, the kids & even the 'Professors' haven't a clue.
Would customized gantry cranes help? If they were modified to handle the heavier weights such as an engine car?
@@wanderingfido I don't understand why you're asking your question? Mr. Burkart was explaining to Congressional members how RR management is completely ignorant of how a RR works. Someone w/ an MBA & no experience(RR or otherwise) thinks that making trains longer is an answer. It's not because the management doesn't want to plan & expend the money to accommodate the longer trains by redesigning the track layout. The management thinks it can gain something for nothing. In my experience that rarely happens. Listen to the video again.
When AT&SF was independent, the trains were short and fast. I saw a train 3 miles long on Cajon Pass last week, crazy!
As a retired conductor I can tell you everything this man says is the absolute truth. But he might
as well be talking to a tree stump, the STB does nothing to hold the railroads accountable. The railroads care nothing about the employees or the customers, I have seen this with my on eyes. I would like to thank the railroad I retired from, for all the extra money they put in my pocket because of the inept train masters and train operations department. 22 hrs on duty waiting on taxis, no relief crews, broke down
locomotives, supervisors 300 mile away, this happened quite regularly. A 2 mile long train is a catastrophe
waiting to happen, if this ain't stupid enough, the carrier wants to take the conductor off the train. Its no wonder there is a backlog of freight sitting everywhere. Thank God I am away from this shit show.
You must have worked for pan am
Nice to hear this subject talked about. I built a train three miles long once in a yard with little to no ability to build long trains. Radio problems were a huge issue with the long trains too. I would always hold it up as high as possible to try and communicate with the engineer to try and avoid issues. Often times I would have to request the YardMaster relay communications. Huge issue for safety. Consolidation is a major issue too. Shutting down yards and forcing more cars into yards that were built so long ago is crazy. Yes removing by YardMasters is also a huge thing. I’ve been to at least 5 or 6 yards where I was the only person making the decisions and when I was a new employee, the only thing that saved me were the engineers knowing what to do. Locomotive issues and servicing locomotives during PSR was an enormous concern. They broke down constantly because of PSR basically making them beaten pieces of junk. This guy was succinct and well informed. Everything he said was on point. The problem is he speaks about it like it’s the back of his hand and everyone hearing him will have no idea what he’s talking about.
EXCELLENT POINTS! Max train length 8,000’ sounds very reasonable. They finally will be able to fit in the sidings. I always felt sorry for the poor conductor who had to walk the two-mile train to find out why it went into emergency. I never thought about the radio limitations.
Don’t do more with less - do less with less. So what Warren Buffett makes a few dollars less. More railroaders will be bringing home on the table for their families without having to worry about dying from overwork and dangerous work environment.
Fantastic testimony , no bullshit just truthful facts from a man working in the real world railroad stating the facts .
I may not be a railroader, but this man makes a lot of sense , promote this man … I think it’s a waste of a railroad to ru. One man crew, on a OMG… three mile train
@@billclements3879 I'm a retired railroader from Union Pacific railroad and I was out there . The bullshit was so deep it made it almost impossible for all of us to do our jobs every day and not do something to get pulled out of service . I had a great boss that stood behind me 100% and saved my ass three times from a jerk official that wanted to fire me . Just doing my job safely and by the rule books . Thanks for your reply .
All I hear right now is the corporate brass yelling "QUIET, SENSE-TALKING PERSON!" and then mumbling between each other about how they thought they had rolled off or retired all the old boots.
In my division, anyone with a management title has never been in the field before. Most of them have never thrown a switch or laced a hose, and none of them are qualified to operate a locomotive. When I hired out more than 20 years ago, everyone in management started from somewhere in the company at an entry level position and made their way up to the position they were at now. Every one of them could mentor less experienced employees by sharing their own personal experience with them. Now these managers have a title and an MBA but no common sense and no value to the position they hold.
It's good to hear from somebody on the ground. I applaud you doing your job in all conditions. Without the rr we would die. The rr has always been an important part in the building of our country. Unfortunately, CEO's profit from your good work, but that is the way of the world.
ditto that Robert Claytor CEO of Norfork southern Was Qualified To Operate a locomotive. to day there is No Ceo that can to it
On top of educated idiots running our railroads, they also rule by numbers. They say, oh you have this many cars in your yard so you can take this many more! Deal with it. They don't account for bad orders or other stuff taking track space. Only, you got this much so squeeze it in there. Hurry the hell up, but be safe....but hurry the hell up.
this corporate sickness started even BEFORE twenty years ago...
As far back as the mid to late 90's CP Rail was hiring pipsqueaks fresh out of college with a degree in marketing to work as trainmasters... fucking joke.
Yep, today's world. Start at the top, and work your way down!!
This gentleman impressed the F*ck out of me. So knowledgeable and he knows his job inside out. Hey Warren, this is the guy that ought to be running YOUR railroad, wise up!
warren doesnt want him running it. this all started with warren.
Yoi can thank him, in part, for the pipeline getting shut off.
Like any other business, the grunts do the work while management does everything it can to screw things up. The managers are taught economics and business practices, and usually know little about how a railroad operates. It is sad this guy has so much knowledge but in the end management won't listen to him. He was smart enough to go back into the Union. As with most businesses, Union employees are the smartest employees, and what they don't know, the Union teaches them. In the end the railroads will keep accidentally making money (they are a monopoly) and no one dare tell them what to do. A good example is all the and triple track they tore up. Bet they wish they had that extra track now. Look at other countries' rail lines; they have multi tracks. Like everything else in the US, money talks and politicians dare not jeopardize their donations from railroads, or any other large corporation. Check out all the container trains running. That should tell everyone "supply chain issue" is a big hoax used to raise the price of everything and drive the US into recession (or depression) while Russia and China sit back and watch. It makes me wonder why we get most things we need to live from our worst enemy (China). Again the politicians let it happen and we pay for their stupidity. Happy $5 a gallon gas!
Actually our CCP slaves making all our stuff cheap.
lets see The Prr went broke over triple track and quad track the UP rr has triple track tRACK from Gibbon Nb to North platte Nb . cajon Pass has Triple Track Ns has triple track o horse shoe curve. property run double Track can move over 100 trains a day. Con rail toledo West moved over 100 trains a day double track CTC. no the Problem is Todays Management Why we need thing from China i dont Know, You Would think the Us would have learned from its 1973 OPEC spanking
Sounds like working for the county
I've seen a lot of Unions steal the advantages they're supposed to be giving their members, but my God when management is this bad, Unions are the last stand against railroads from turning into a corporate monster machine
Railroad Unions are a bit unique though
“I’m solving problems you didn’t know you had, in ways you wouldn’t understand.” There ya go.
If this guy isn't qualified to speak on the conditions of US railroads right now then NOBODY is. He is absolutely right, you just can't keep cutting back on people and not expect it to have a negative impact on the industry. Hopefully somebody is paying attention to what this yardmaster is saying, good on him!
This guy knows his stuff I’ve seen it with my own eyes myself with the railroad in Alabama it’s not too much different A lot of old heads told me that I worked with previously was telling me the amount of time it takes to do a job compared to years ago
I worked mow 40 yrs for bnsf, retired July 13th 2018, the last 10 to 15 yrs were miserable. My opinion was there were people that NEVER worked RR and tried to run it like any other business without the understanding of what it takes to run a RR. You cannot operate it like just another business.
Exactly. Pulling roadmasters straight out of college trying to tell a bunch of men how to do their job.
If this next agreement isn't a good one many more people will leave. We're 2.5 yrs without a contract talking about no back pay and minimal raises all while raising Healthcare costs
@@stevang4720 Yeah and the Teamsters merger was the end of any decent contracts. Really couldn't call many of them good. I started in '78 and the hourly rate doubled by '83, that was the best period in my 40 yrs.
It just sound idiotic what's going on now. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it anymore. Good luck!
@@Fbarts We'll see! Enjoy the retirement. Still got a laborer here in the lincoln yard after 40 some years......67 years old!
@@stevang4720 🪩
"why dont you have engines? Well we shipped em to St. Louis and turned em into razor blades" holy smokes this guy. He's got it figured out for sure, he deserves CEO of BNSF but they wouldnt do it because they know he'd do it the right way and turn that joint upside down.
I can see how he ran afoul of management. 😂
I work for CN in Canada and this also applies here. We run 3 mile long trains at 0.4HPT at a fraction of track speed. It's not about servicing customers or the economy. It's all about profits. Precision scheduled railroading is flawed in so many ways
Reminds me of a 1998 article about CN aggressively downsizing their headcount. No wonder they ended up where they are now.
I've been trying to figure out what PSR was. Thank you.
Well back in olden times servicing your customer MEANT profits
I loved it when he said they basically “shipped the locomotives to St. Louis and tuned them into razor blades!” Yep!
Everything the man stated was valid, well said indeed
What a guy. As a railroader myself, I agree with and support everything he said.
Does that mean there should be more railroad jobs opening up?
Thats a man you need making decisions for the rail road. He worked his way damn near to the top to get kicked out by a VP. He has seen it all.
Less employees and larger trains. This BNSF gentleman is correct in his statements.
I'm retired from the railroad, i saw how the RR, downsize, eliminate yards, combine work loads to other locations, all doing this with less employees.
he said he was fired for getting crossways with some VPs thats a problem a lot of people experience because 99% of people In charge can't be told crap , they know everything nobody has a good idea but them
9:51 "Maximum of 8,000 foot on a train!" Stick to what he said, "Power, Crew and Rail."
They're going to eliminate the crew.
In the race to be "darlings of Wall Street" railroad management has created the problems that this man points out...railroads continue to lose business to trucks. NS, after thousands of layoffs to "save money" did manage to find the money to build new headquarters in Atlanta....BEAN COUNTERS HAVE NO BUSINESS RUNNING RAILROADS!
The other day we had 3 car setoff on the rear of a 13,500 foot train. The conductor was fairly new and asked how do we are normally do this. I said "I don't know, your radio is only good for 5000 feet on its best day."
Yikes
So even if you used the remotes (locos) in the centre of the train they still can't contact you!
Hand signals at 3 miles away is fairly useless as well.
@@michaelharris3296 On some lines mobile phones are equally useless.
smoke signals
On top of his excellent and articulate railroad testimony, I loved the almost casual "when I got out of the Marine Corps" comment. Only a fool would ignore this man's testimony.
I would ignore him just to get a rise out of him its in my nature
Highly impressed and I hope the deaf ears stop being deaf. I would like to see men and women working back where they belong and yards opened back up.
10:20 wish somebody would’ve said that to Ns. The amount of locomotives they sold off that worked just fine is crazy
I resigned from NS railroad after 25 years for the reasons this man is talking about, railroading no longer made sense.
In June of 2020, i made the decision to retire from NS after 41 years of service starting with Southern railway in 1979. I had not intended to retire for at least 2 more years because I always enjoyed my job in the mechanical department and the people I worked with, but things were spiraling out of control so badly that I was concerned for my own life as well as my coworkers lives! Safety had done an exit, stage left, and sideswipes, runaways etc. had become commonplace because of severe manpower shortages due to widespread (unnecessary) furloughs, the few management people left were working literally months at a time without any off days, and absolutely no one knew what was going on because what little communication happened was usually incorrect! I worked at a large classification yard in Linwood, NC that had a large freight car repair shop and a large locomotive servicing terminal and running repair shop. As the PSR farce gained momentum, they announced the closure of the entire facility, with nearly all mechanical employees furloughed, but far fewer transportation employees sent home. To make matters even more ridiculous, they announced that linwoods train operations would be scattered to several other facilities, mainly old Spencer Yard and Pomona Yard in Greensboro! Both of those facilities are ancient, sadly maintained, cramped, and in the case of Pomona, already badly overworked! Spencer was only lightly used due in part to the fact that crossties were nonexistent and much of the yard would flood when it rained much! They pumped millions into Spencer to attempt at making it useable including installation of a mobile office, a compressed air building and related yard piping, and a purely cosmetic crosstie project! Pomona instantly gridlocked and operations at Spencer were an exercise in futility, while Linwood, less than 5 miles from Spencer and around 40 from Pomona, sat idle! Pomona also got an air system upgrade, but the truth is that Linwood had all that along with the appropriate structures to make it all work, so if we’re going to “rationalize” facilities, why not keep the huge yard and move the smaller points work there! I’m sure it made some management stiff look good telling the Board of Directors “ I eliminated a major terminal today”, while keeping it under his hat how much they spent at Spencer and Pomona! FF to 2022 and Spencer is once again a ghost town, nothing there now despite the money spent, and Linwood is back open, albeit without the hump operation and mechanical shops. But boy the hedge fund crowd got much richer as they decimated the once proud railroads of America! And, oh yea, the same people they booted out the door in 2020 are now being begged to return due to massive manpower shortages! In a twist of poetic justice, the majority of them are laughing and hanging up! The feds should have stepped in two or three years ago and stopped this farce, but they stood back and did NOTHING! A travesty!
@@tomt9543.... it's All being done on purpose, Tom.... why? Because they're in the final phase of setting the US0fA up, for the final take down... literally. By 2025, this country will be pretty well "gone". It all started (in earnest) with FDR's administration.... and they are now within reach of finishing us off.
This year, in April... the first, World Government Conference was held in Dubai, and of course the globalist's are now well on their way, through their Long ago planned (late 1970's) "necessity" to Depopulate the world ("at some point in the first quarter of the next century" [21st]), and especially the USofA.... through manufactured "diseases & vaccines", starvation / famines and wars.... which, according to Prince Charles a few years ago, "will be ongoing until most of the current population is exterminated, and those who are left.. fully compliant to the NWO" (New World Order).
This "winding down" of production of Everything and the global shipping thereof... is because they (Jacob Rothschild, Klaus Schwab, Noval Harari, B. Gates, G. Soros, all of the WEF, etc, et el) know that there is Not going to be a population, large enough left, within the next 2-3 years to make use of it all.
When you know that you're about to "raise" (re: implode) an office building, or even your home... to make room for either a new development, or just to get rid of it... you do Not leave all your valuables and things of importance in those structures, you remove it first, and then transfer it to a new location or whatever.
The transfer of our manufacturing and the expertise thereof was transferred Out of the US to China (mainly), in advance to imploding this country. This is also why, they began the "dumbing down" (1978/79) process ("Goals 2000") of the kids, through the public "education" school system, instead of raising them up to truly become useful, successful, thinking (common sense) people.... because the "powers that be" on this planet, have known for many decades "where" they were taking all this, and that the vast majority of the populace would be "gone" by 2025 /2030 at the latest.
As Klaus Schwab declared at this years WEF conference in Devos (Switzerland)... "you will own Nothing, and you will be happy".... pertaining to All who are left, and Not part of the global governing "elite", and privileged others of key importance in the world.
There may very "possibly" be Less than 100 million people still alive by 2025 /2026 in the US.... very sad to say.
ALL of this, was prophesied in detail throughout the Bible, well over 2000 years ago. We know, how it all ends and we're now, solidly in the last days of that final generation.... it is going to get increasingly and exponentially worse over the next 5 or so, years, on every level, including the weather... from here, on out.
We all need to make sure our "spiritual house" is in order.... because in the end, that is All that Really matters, anyway. Blessings to you and yours.
The worst departments and the departments that do the most damage to a company after top management is HR with their self important titles of HR Specialist and HR Practitioner. These fancy titles putting their heads in the clouds are given to people who are admin people at root level. Have absolutely no interest in the core business of the company. Feel absolutely nothing for the staff and are often so bombastic over the lesser mortals. They also seem to forget who is bringing the money into to company but will go to great lengths to chummy up to management and influence them. You can see by my writings I have experienced this from HR. All was well in the days of the Personal Office. But when it became HR, these nobody's became "professionals". One company I worked for, the HR Practitioner had real attitude. Everyone knew the GM did what she told him. Colleague was called to support an "accused" at a hearing but was told by HR what to say thus the poor accused had no chance. She wanted him fired and pre-condemmed him. Nobody ever noticed she could not keep an asdistent. They all left shortly afrer starting work. Nobody argued with her! Over inflated egos the litbofvthem.
I hired on with the NS as a Trainmaster out of Conway Terminal Hump Yard. I loved that job and the people I managed, but it I couldn’t stand the way the company treated myself, my colleagues, and my men on the ground. No men, no locomotives or people to maintain them, giant trains, and infrastructure built for much smaller trains. I made it two years and learned a lot from some very knowledgeable railroaders particularly my yardmasters. Left after two years and went to a short line where the class one mindset is slowly creeping in due to people leaving class ones and taking their class one mentalities with them.
I've been in intermodal now going on nine years. The company I drive for had 44 loads stuck in a rail 400 miles from us. for a month. We had to get them trucked to us for us to deliver. I trust what this gentleman is saying.
PSR was designed for the least altitude / weather challenged railroad - New Orleans to Chicago. Not doing so well on Horseshore Curve / Donner Pass.
dito that. i have train watch 75% of that route. it is mostly flat not much big curves very little hills use to be a lot of double track now has long passing sidings
It was designed for investors
@@titaniumspike1779 But investors think it will work on Horseshoe Curve / Donner Pass like it did on Illinois Central ... :(
Hunter dreamed this stupid PSR up while on the IC. Rammed it down our throats on the GTW/CN. It always was b.s., but it made him rich because Wall Street ate it up. Unfortunately all the other RRs saw the money made and operating ratio drop so Hunter's acolytes spread it to the other Class 1s. It doesn't work, never did, never will.
@@tomdooley6381 Agree! Grew up just down the road from Donner Summit, was raised on stories of the 1952 City of San Francisco stranding ... .
My paternal grandfather& an uncle worked & retired from the railroad after 50 years. My dad worked for the railroad laying rails before I was born & had to move on as work slowed in the Dakotas. I Love trains!
He should be our next President!!!
My ex and his new wife work for BNSF and I pray for their and your safety. I used to fly for the airlines I know how complicated railroad contracts can be. Stand together brothers and sisters stand unified in your union for a safe workplace, someday our children/grandchildren will work there. .
Sad truth is we need a person like mat in a higher position like the senate to improve the transportation of goods and services and utilities in this country… this administration of our government is taking us down a track like a runaway train. We need Americans for America. God bless America!!! Thank you Mat for speaking the truth. We are listening, stay united stay strong.
I am curious, which administration allowed the deregulation of this industry and thus allowed these monopolies/duopolies to exist that cater only to the bottom lines for their shareholders? I see you refer to "this administration", but this has been going on for years; do you mean the current administration that is not yet two years old caused this problem?
@@nitrousmoxide2629 It's more or less a bureaucratic problem that's been festering for decades, if not centuries. Few, if any, presidential administrations try to streamline or get the bureaucracy working right for common people.
@@bakerboat4572 Thank you for the meaningful reply. The more that I learn about railroad operations and how they have changed over time, I am seeing that it's looking like profit blinds the decision makers and they forget the people that do the actual work. It would seems the companies involved could obviously afford to hire more engineers and run more locomotives, as well as other positions down the line to operate safely and efficiently. I know these companies say they want to create more jobs, but it's so frustrating to see that over and over, they want these people to "do more with less" so they have no personal or family time and are expected to "man up because that's how it is if you want the job". America can do much better.
This guy is GREAT!
VERY MUCH TO THE POINT
I've seen Union Pacific storing locomotives in a yards all over the place. Saw them in yards in Hastings, Ne and Marysville, Ks to name a couple.
Shhh...we don’t want them to know we have the power.
Best testimony I've seen....others spent.lots of wasted time talking about grade crossing blockage and the ex FRA Admin talking about the dramatic reduction in head on collisions! Really? The ripple effect of dwell time delays, the PSR elimination of any ability to respond quickly to variance (Just in Time instead of Just in Case). "Power/Crew/Rail": great example of stripping away the chaff and focus on the salient issues.
here is the problem. you have politicians with agendas that only serve them. they don't care about the country. you have people in this country that are selfish and only care about themselves and they vote for the bad politicians. there is also a little thing called affirmative action. today its called "diversity". we need to get rid of that trash. a person should be hired for what they know PERIOD! we need to get standards back up. we can't afford to care about the hurt feelings of someone that just isn't smart enough to do a certain job. life has costs. you can't defer those costs.
Joe hear loud and clear and yes our puppet politicians are selling out to every Marxist ideology know to man. And destroying the values of U.S.A. Freedoms. Need to let some of these misguided youth really know where their headed. Our politicians in office need to rethink the agenda they propose it’s not worth all the tea in china.
OK that was a must see, no fluff.
This is what happens when companies focus on stock prices and shareholders and not their actual business. You get decisions that spark share price increases and positive PR about efficiency and high tech when in reality, it's the total opposite and more often than not, makes things worse.
The railroads own TTX. PSR means more cars sitting longer, and the stock price rises when more cars are in use because of the stake in TTX. Follow the money.
Who profits? solves the crime again.
I live in South Texas along Highway 77 I have never seen so much real traffic and trains that are so long in my entire life and I’ve lived here 46 years.
Wow! Thank you for putting this up.
My favorite is when they are shoving cars and they block a RR crossing for twenty minutes because they don’t want to shove an extra 40 ft, making traffic five miles long. My father in law is retired RR executive and the stories he has from railroading would make you think they are a bunch of dumb sons of bitches and it’s a miracle the railroads function the way they do.
I worked in RR business 36 years locomotive department. When I started, promoting from the ranks was common and your management understood RR.
In the 90’s they started hiring managers who had a degree but no clue on RR. We called them “pin heads”…….things changed and not for the better.
I could write a book about it the arrogance,incompetence and stupidity of most of them it was unbelievable.
I retired in 2010 and my friend just did…… he said everything that made RR a wonderful career is gone the “pin heads” made sure of that!
RR’s like BNSF, UP, CSX etc are just to big to fail. If you ran a small business like they do you’d go out of business!
DUDE! You Hit the Spike Right on the Head!
They hire idiots as 'Management Trainees'. They put them on an outbound train to our 'Away from Home Terminal' and then ride a train back. Now they're 'TRAINMASTERS'
But they don't need to know anything because WE KNOW HOW TO RAILROAD. All they do is 'Hide in the Bushes' to issue 'Operations Testing Failures' to MAKE THEM SELVES LOOK GOOD! As if they knew what they were doing. Our latest '90 Day Wonder' blundered a few moves that caused a late departure. So, being the rocket scientist he was he put the blame on ME(I've got 37 years) saying(You better be sitting down)that the train was late because I "didn't share my 'Track Condition Messages' with my hoghead. I'm sure he thought that he had Busted a 'Big Dog'. His supervisors know me very well and told him to rescind it which he did. He left the railroad after a few moths, moved out of state.
His wife served him with Divorce Papers so he shot her to death and then committed suicide. It made the news.
So, I think this is supporting evidence to your comment.
Quite literally, thank God for shortline railroads
@@bakerboat4572 for sure . I knew the founder of the Wisconsin Central RR a great short line . He was a senior manager on the CNW . A real leader…he respected us and we respected him😎
My father and grandfather each worked for the Frisco, now part of the BNSF, for over forty years. He hated the BNSF after the merger and said the BNSF cared nothing about the railroad business and just viewed it as a way to get cash to invest in other businesses.
This guy should run for president he’s got BALLS AND BRAINS
I cannot believe that on a train hauling 15000 tons that the profit margin is so razor thin the railroads cannot afford two or even three people to man them.
Spoiler alert: If the margins are THAT thin they don't deserve to survive.
Truth and competence. All completely foriegn languages to politicians.
Union Pacific here in New Mexico are running trains nearly 3 miles long these days. And they run a LOT of them.
MOW out of Lincoln Ne here, I've been noticing much less traffic lately. We call those long trains mega trains and its been quite awhile since we've seen them.
Let's see where this contract deal with the PEB goes. Many places are hiring with the same pay and benefits.....when I first hired on I thought I'd retire here. Not so sure of that now. Morale is terrible.
Each day, I think less and less of Warren buffett.
When you want something done right, you don't go to a bean counter. You go to the man/woman on the ground.
"HI, we are from that Govt and are here to help"
All these big companies will take someone with a degree in anything over an experienced employee who knows what's going on . That's why UPS failed with UPS freight that's one reason BNSF is failing
If it were only incompetence. But it’s not. It’s evil. They know what they’re doing to our country.
maybe. but that's not what mgmt needs. mgmt for the RR's need to enhance shareholder earnings. mgmt and shareholders do not give a rat's ass about making the railways work (safely or otherwise...). they care about getting as much profit as possible. railways are businesses and if there's away to keep them profitable then do it. as for the country suffering well... they tend to think in the current way of doing business and making money: there are winners and there are losers...
very sad and discouraging but it ain't gonna change anytime soon and face it, congress is NOT going to hold anyone's feet to the fire: railways contribute too much money - congress won't bite the hands that feed them.
Mandate train length? Not likely. Mandate that no train on any district be longer than the shortest passing siding? That could be easy enough to understand.
The engines in storage at Donkey Creek Wyoming that he mentioned can be seen from Google street view on road 51 just west of Rozet.
tHANKS
1700 Mousette Ln East St. Louis IL 62206 looking west. Several been sitting there for quite sometime. Those must be the ones they are going to turn into razor blades. Sad part is they all look pretty nice. You can see them on Google Street view also.
Wow this gentleman needs to be head CEO of Burlington Northern Santa Fe
This is what happens into a long train together. But will the government officials listen to them? Management is bed with the officials. The workers and the customers suffer.
Man Matty for the win son! Great Job Brother!
Damn straight. Common sense, correct, direct information. This is going on in canada too.
This fella is spot on
Holy fuck, this guy is a railroader. You can tell with managers out here whether they came from the craft or not pretty easily. When they talk confidently, precisely, and aren't afraid of the truth, you know they started pounding the ground and pulling pins. "We derailed there last year, we derailed there this year, and we'll derail there again." This is a good old fashioned genuine railroader that cares about his train/trains. No wonder they pushed him out of the big wigs... That being said, guys like this in local leadership are what keep the railroad running. Thank you for speaking out.
Informative for us all wondering where our package is.
How much of this has contributed to the increased price of energy production and goods?
Absolutely. We are not railroading anymore. We are led by metrics, not common sense.
wanna fix the railroads ... the STB should mandate that all c-suite employees MUST work 1 year as an assistant conductor before they can qualify to work on any railroad in the country in the c suite. watch how fast things change
2:50 TIME. As a former taxi driver, running train crews (CN and CP) in Alberta, i see the 'problem' as the same, with ALL MODERN transportation. Trains/Trucks/Planes, all too large, for 80 + year old ' infrastructure'. I've been a semi owner, in the late 70;s early 80's. The same problem/issues exist with highways/trestles/bridges/overpasses, narrow old crossings, with the train rails on an upward arch; causing lowboy truckers, to get ''hungup'. (high centred, on trailers). There is not much one, can do in the train railyards, except maybe
RE-ENGINEER THEM ALL, for 2 mile long trains. (10,000 + feet). The longest train, i heard of, was an engineer from Red Deer. In the taxi van, i asked them (him and conductor) what was the longest train he ever 'drove'. Turns out, he said 3 miles long. ......Anyway, hang in there, folks ! If you bought something, it came on either/or both, a train and a truck of some type/size.
Hi from UK! Former UK driver (retired) railways are 3 things trains track and staff! What gets in the way the world over is dollars pounds euros rupees etc
Trains should be state run by the state for the state
No thanks. Governments never runs anything effeciently. It's the dollors, pounds euros, etc. that make things move. Customers is what really drive inovation.
Hmmm... BNSF "operating margin" increases yet carloads shipped continues to decrease and rail car dwell time increases. Something just doesn't add up here.
other railroads PSR programs block BNSF from not operating effectively
Saving $ instead of making $
And the powers that be will hear every word, and ignore them, cos they know better. Boy and man, that man know his job, it's his heart and soul. It counts for nothing if no one is listening. In military terms if you want a job done you need boots on the ground!!!!
The biggest problem is wall street greed and the legacy of hunter Harrison, who pioneered PSR in Canada and the first thing to go out the window was safety
Rockin the Marine Corps tie clasp! Like it! Semper Fi!
Pin pulled close to 29 years on the UPRR. No truer words spoken, the employees were treated like part of the problem and not part of the solution while management fumbled their way through one self created disaster after another. The Senior Management got the junior management to do it because they monetized it.
There's a problem right there guy is 80 years old been bought off by these railroads for years you want positive change get these people on the panel off
and is a over paid Fed Gov worker
He left them all behind at "I am a yardmaster". The sense of accomplishment must be second nature with his crew. Nowadays it's crybaby HR Dept catering everybody's wussy hurting every other day crap
This man is speaking 100% truth. 1 added bullshit measure Canadian RRs have added is throttle restrictions. As such, average train velocity is about 25 miles per hour at best. As a result, crews run out of time and need to be rescued, requiring more crews to run trains. We get staged outside of terminals because they can't handle the constant 11000+ trains that have work. Thus, requiring rescues and more people. All to keep the RRs running like the worst concept possible of a conveyer belt. Not possible when you shit on your people, equipment and customers. No possible!
I worked for CSX for 4 years and in that time I seen that we were going fucking absolutely backwards in the fucking shit that we were told to do as a conductor building trains I can identify with everything this man says
Thats why the US air lines stayed away from the Air Bus A380..they could not fill this plane fast enough with passengers or cargo or land it at every airport. I was in trucking for 33 years with one company, if you pack and stack a trailer from nose to tail for 3 days..its going to take that long to unload it, plus the distance it travels plus the number of terminals it has to go through till reaches its destination. My company wasn't coast to coast but we we're 99% next day delivery, meaning if you ordered something within our system , we could get it to another terminal that day and out for delivery the next. and we didn't charge extra for that. Do Not ship with YRC...they don't care about time...they don't care about their employees..they just care about rates....
I remember when Donkey Creek was built and it’s a true shame not seeing it utilized what it was meant to be. I’ve work all 126 miles on the Orin line up to donkey creek. He isn’t lying that it’s used to store Locomotive engines in the masses!
This was an amazing listen
Thanks for posting. I appreciate his perspective. It’s hard to tell the big picture from the cab, but it’s easy to tell things are not going right.
The industry couldn't have s more knowledgeable, articulate representative. If the problems are not solved it is clearly the fault of our legislatures.
Informative and interesting.
The airlines are doing the same thing. Great testimony.
Why doesn't Berkshire Hathaway sue the railroad. Management is not meeting their fiduciary responsibility??
The collapse is planned perhaps
Too bad we have the wrong people in charge at this time in federal government.
I know a lot of railroaders and they all have similar storys. My brother worked for the railroad, when we would go fishing I would here of all the stupid things management would do.
I used to look forward to some of them but it became too depressing. Also all the things stupid or lazy employees would do and yet they were protected by the union and could care less about the railroad. Yes, there are problems on both sides and unfortunenatly our whole country is on the same track. It boils down to greed, from the investors all the way down to the laborer who want's to get paid but not work.
Hi Humble Wisdom, you are making a great "sound remark" - I fully agree with you that we have bad apples on both sides of the equation, management/leaders and "workers"/union - sadly enough, contrary to the ol' days, there is little if any "selectiveness" based on performance or merit anymore. Unfortunately, as you eloquently mentioned, we are all "on the same track" in our nation... no pun intended. It is as if our entire country has become a "Walmart" and its population.. the shoppers. The lowest/poorest performers dictate the production and identity of the company. Being a Baby Boomer, I remember when "Made in America" was a symbol of quality and durability. There was pride at any level of the work force, from the gas station attendant (remember the hat and bow tie?) to the automotive engineer who design a car that had "character" that one could "fix" to a certain extent. We dressed to invite a girl out back then, music production meant true artists and real "words", we respected our seniors... behavior boundaries were set from family, church, school, youth organizations (Boy/Girl Scouts, 4H, cadets, military...), all the way up the chain. We were not perfect but we were getting better.. We put the man on the moon!... What happened to the America I grew up in? May God help us and may Peace be with you, Ciao, L (Veteran)
@@lancelot1953 mostly agree but language evolves and so does music and tolerance of others should be considered... I think condemning a song for using words not found in merriem webster or your bible is inconsiderate of the millions of brown or not 100 year old white people who use them and relate to them daily. The numbers dont lie, rap is here to stay, so is techno, metal, noise...and if you dont like it, it was designed that way :} oh and do please invite the archduke of Levingham Hills to do his impersonation of the negroids guitar or their white impersonators during the operas intermission, his critique of the talking pictures is likewise an enduring pleasure to behold. Plebian ignorance is making a mockery of gods music. This jazz nonsense is truly barbaric squelching more akin to a water closet than a performance hall. Oh and write president and ask for prohobition again. And slaves, what truly made America $o $o so great. Nice chat sir lancelot, do speak softly and forget nay that big stick, see you at the fraternal rally tonight! What color robes? Silly question, white is always right!
That was a nice hearing. I promise nothing will come of it though. The bureaucrats get paid and that's all that matters. 🤷♂️