I have had a flatcar that was stuck in Eola, IL for 3 weeks.
It arrived in the Chicago area on 1/5/14 and was just switched to the NS a couple days ago. The BNSF is so screwed up right now moving cars in Winnipeg and around the Chicago area. They do not seem to care about their flatcar business anymore. It is all about oil.
I am being told that the railroads automated all their switches a few years back. Now they have someone pushing a button in KC and the frozen switch does not move. My understanding is they do not have the people to go out and maintain the switches like they formerly did. What say you?
I couldn’t tell you what is happening on that side of the States. As for button pushers in KC. As for Chicago...I heard from some of our new engineers who went to KC to train...”thats where the railroad goes to die”, “those guys were the most negative and piss-poor attitude railroaders I’ve ever met...”
Some of the delay has definitely been weather related. Here in CA we’ve had several of our fresh-veggie trains delayed or scrubbed because they couldn’t process it all back East.
I think its a Region-wide issue IMO.
As for button pushers...
We have dispatchers in TX who run things out West and Dispatchers in San Bernardino who do as well. If a switch is stuck in one position, there are procedures in place for the crew to follow if that happens.
And you’d be surprised who they’d hire. I have personally worked with Ex-Real Estate agents, former truck drivers, lumberjacks, firefighters etc. Most of them are weeded out at the application process as the Federal qualifications test is 300 questions and you need 90% to pass just to get a basic switchmans job.