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PSR is far more then that, but this author doesn't care to go into that since it detracts from his or her argument. From wikipedia: Precision railroading or p

PSR is far more then that, but this author doesn't care to go into that since it detracts from his or her argument. From wikipedia: Precision railroading or precision scheduled railroading (PSR) is a concept in freight railroad operations pioneered by E. Hunter Harrison in 1993, and adopted by nearly every North American Class I railroad. It shifts the focus from older practices, such as unit trains, hub and spoke operations and individual car switching at hump yards, to emphasize point-to-point freight car movements on simplified routing networks. Under PSR, freight trains operate on fixed schedules, much like passenger trains, instead of being dispatched whenever a sufficient number of loaded cars are available. In the past, intermodal trains and general merchandise trains operated separately; under PSR they are combined as needed, typically with distributed power. Inventories of freight cars and locomotives are reduced and fewer workers are employed for a given level of traffic. The result is often substantial improvement in railroad operating ratios, and other financial and operating metrics; at the cost of less-reliable service, particularly to smaller customers, long-term capacity issues, increased derailments and other safety risks associated with longer trains, and crew fatigue. PSR is the reason why half of the US rail fleet is in storage, they are no longer needed. this has significant positive and negative benefits. On the positive side, this includes the environmental impact, on the negative side, it makes US rail systems totally unusable for anyone other then the freight railroads. Freight railroads (and rail in general) remains one of the most regulated business out there, but the rail companies are aggressively pushing back on new regulations that would address significant problems.

vannevar 4y ago
Paid leave doesn't prevent the railroads from doing PSR, it just makes it more expensive. Right now, they're pushing the cost onto the workers, and also the public, since sick workers ultimately burden the health care system and there are safety risks in having sick workers operating trains. This makes PSR look more efficient than it actually is for the economy at large. As a matter of public policy, we should make companies bear the true costs of their business and have those costs reflected in their pricing, rather than foist those costs on the public under the table and off the books.
digdugdirk 4y ago
Freight railroads are highly regulated in the same sense that police departments are highly regulated. There are lots of rules that apply, but they generally decided to make (or accept) those rules themselves. And the entrenched players make it almost entirely impossible for outside forces to enact change on the system as a whole. Your comment is accurate, I just want to put this here as an analogy to help people in case they read your comment as a defense of PSR or the rail industry as a whole.
Avshalom 4y ago
>>The result is often substantial improvement in railroad operating ratios, and other financial and operating metrics; at the cost of less-reliable service, particularly to smaller customers, long-term capacity issues, increased derailments and other safety risks associated with longer trains, and crew fatigue. So it makes the companies more money at the expense of everything else and you think that detracts from the OPs point?

vannevar 4y ago

Paid leave doesn't prevent the railroads from doing PSR, it just makes it more expensive. Right now, they're pushing the cost onto the workers, and also the public, since sick workers ultimately burden the health care system and there are safety risks in having sick workers operating trains. This makes PSR look more efficient than it actually is for the economy at large. As a matter of public policy, we should make companies bear the true costs of their business and have those costs reflected in their pricing, rather than foist those costs on the public under the table and off the books.

digdugdirk 4y ago

Freight railroads are highly regulated in the same sense that police departments are highly regulated. There are lots of rules that apply, but they generally decided to make (or accept) those rules themselves. And the entrenched players make it almost entirely impossible for outside forces to enact change on the system as a whole. Your comment is accurate, I just want to put this here as an analogy to help people in case they read your comment as a defense of PSR or the rail industry as a whole.

Avshalom 4y ago

>>The result is often substantial improvement in railroad operating ratios, and other financial and operating metrics; at the cost of less-reliable service, particularly to smaller customers, long-term capacity issues, increased derailments and other safety risks associated with longer trains, and crew fatigue. So it makes the companies more money at the expense of everything else and you think that detracts from the OPs point?