So decided to make this its own thread away from the regular IRL News and photo threads. But over the past few weeks, due to issues between the railroads (Mainly attendance policies) and the unions, a potential strike may happen later this week, which could impact the US's supply chain. https://railfan.com/union-president...Q6ulFNGF2jAS0CeMSIde43t4IDG2l2ky9PuFPfCrNej3I https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...bvRQOryn9DjQz8CNmb7IyHC7TvCFRdscHYaF-sVI_9aFs Carriers have already started halting trains of hazardous materials, as well as some other trains depending on the railroad.... https://railfan.com/railroads-start...P5fpG4uinxlk0HdQe-G_vl9bBxLLCkYYucZUqI5Bc9TOw Amtrak has already suspended a handful of long distance trains. Amtrak California and ACE are already prepped to cancel trains if the strike goes thru. Seems the same can be said for Metrolink, not sure what other commuter railroads would be potentially effected. https://railfan.com/amtrak-to-suspe...AlqSza-MGJJqGa0PqbArmspO91D0SazVOksvB1TsZN4hY Be advised this strike doesn't effect the entire country. Amtrak's NEC is unaffected by it as they own their own tracks. The same applies to Brightline in Florida too, as they run on Class II trackage owned by the FEC railroad. Its gonna be interesting to see how this all plays out later this week.....
It's apparently going to affect some Metra commuter services, many of which run on Class1 owned and maintained tracks and, in some cases, use UP and BNSF ticket collectors, engineers, conductors and dispatchers.
https://www.trains.com/trn/news-rev...ntative-contract-deal-and-authorize-a-strike/ Machinists reject their deal, but no plans to strike till later in September.
https://railfan.com/from-amtrak-to-short-lines-a-class-i-shutdown-will-impact-everyone/ More Amtrak trains are getting canceled, and depending how long the shutdown lasts, could also effect Class 2 and 3 railroads that interchange with the Class 1s. It is also interesting to note that Canadian Pacific is the only Class 1 not at risk for a shutdown as they are not part of the contract negotiations, however they could also be affected at interchange points with other Class 1s.
Why is Amtrak canceling trains that run on NS or CSX and have nothing to do with UP or BNSF? They canceled today's 91 and 92.
Amtrak doesn't want to risk stranding passengers in places with nowhere to go, and the Union is in negotiations with most Class 1 railroads. There is also a risk if one of the major Unions go on strike, the rest will follow.
Good, working conditions on the railroad are awful and this just shows how ridiculous it is to have our national rail service operating on privately owned rail.
Watching this last night on CNN and MSNBC and they were talking about the effects it has on the rail passengers however Northeast Corridor is not affected by this because Amtrak owns the whole line
There was talk of nec employees showing solidarity. moot point though as it’s a good deal for both sides
But then why are they still running the Pennsylvanian, Vermonter, Piedmont, Carolinian, and City of New Orleans? I agree with you about the sorry state of the working conditions. I have friends who work/used to work for Amtrak, CSX, and CN. However, I don't believe that public/private ownership has anything to do with the state of long-distance passenger service (assuming that's what you meant). I put the blame solely on Amtrak when it comes to that. They seem hell-bent on eliminating long-distance service, or at least making it as unpleasant as possible, all the while preventing private operators from attempting to provide alternatives. If we had open-access systems like they do in the UK and Europe we'd have high-quality long-distance sleeper trains between New York and Florida. Aha, it seems like they got what they most cared about - the ability to take time off for medical reasons without being punished. From what I understood, they cared more about that than just a raise. But they apparently will get a raise too! Good news!
They were about to suspend the city the other trains are less than a day travel so they would have been suspended too. I spoke to a friend of mine that works for up and they said it’s a great deal. He says it’ll really help the personnel shortages because it’ll be easier to recruit new hires and there will be less turnover. In his opinion
Good, I'm glad to hear that! Yeah, it made no sense to me, given the labor shortages, why the railroads didn't just offer better working conditions in order to benefit their own self-interest. It seems highly irrational for them to have acted the way they did; almost as if it were more important to "stick it to the serfs" than to implement something that would benefit themselves.
They likely see 'giving in to union demands' as a slow erosion of power - even if it makes sense in the short term, it gives the workers a dream of a better life and that isn't worth the risk. There was an enormous amount of pressure to get this deal done and I am glad it did.
I don't know about New York to Florida but much of the long distance trains wouldn't run at all if it were up to private operators - they are not profitable and generate the highest losses for Amtrak. The private/public partnership is partly responsible for the poor service, as these routes experience constant disruption by freight. I'm a regular user of Amtrak in the PNW and we experience these disruptions often, maybe things are handled better on the East Coast
Yes, good news all around. I think the proximity of the November elections was a prime motivator in getting this deal done. Of course, it still has to be voted on by the union members, but that'll not be for a weeks - long cooling off period, well after November 8th.
