Notice of Cessation of Service Effective 12/01/2015 for Shipments of PIH Commodities [NS Railroad]

Norfolk Southern Corporation ^ | October 20, 2015 | Norfolk-Southern

[exit82]

Darn! Thanks for the info.

[Rodamala]

You probably understand this as the OP, but for the benefit of non-industry FReepers, I shall briefly bloviate.

What NS is doing here is no shock at all. The mandate for Positive Train Control was encouraged by the Class 1 railroads because the side benefit would be the eventual ability to go to 0 man crews and run trains remotely like some sort of Train Simulator... or just completely automate it. The railroads knew they would not be able to comply by the deadline, but that's OK... Just like 0bama and Reid shutting down the veteran memorials and national parks during their government "shutdown", NS is gaming this, "making it hurt" by stiffing the shippers that move commodities by rail with NS, and finger pointing. I know their intent is to merely have bushel baskets of "emergency" Federal cash thrown their way, for compliance, for "the safety of the children".

Let no crisis go to waste.

PTC is the greatest boondoggle next to Amtrak. It need not exist. 2hat is needed is a return to traditional mentoring, and promotion based on merit, and if you want to party in the cab like Ricky Gates, you are done. If you want to update your Facebook status and Instagram feed as you blow through a redboard, you will never make it to that point in your RR career.

Then again the old days of railroading wifh The Shack, are gone... it's all corporate BS and diversity training now instead of learning how to bring a 100 car loaded potash train down a 4% grade, with Dynamic Brakes cut out on 2 of your head end locomotives.

[AAABEST]

So this extreme f-up by a gov’t employee is the reason Congress and the Federale gov’t bureaucracy over reacted with super costly regulations over private railroads that will impact consumers and the American economy...

Not unlike those heinously annoying reverse beepers they put on all trucks nowadays, which you can hear from, literally, hundreds of meters away.

Some asshole somewhere walked into a backing up truck, or some driver was an idiot now we all have to listen to that horrible noise.

Either that, or the company that makes the beepers had the right connections in D.C.

[factoryrat]

This affects all of the class 1 railroads, not just NS. People don’t realize just how much hazmat material is shipped by rail every day.

Put it this way, WHEN the railroads stop hauling chemicals, the chemical and refining operations grind to a halt, because their just are not enough trucks and equipment in the US to handle it.

The railroad that I work for is also making plans to wind down hazmat shipments, along with the other class 1 railroads. We all seen this coming, and have been throwing everything we have at getting PTC online.

[CedarDave]

Oh no. Amtrak shutting down in the East? How are my wonderful (/barf) Senators Carper and Coons going to be able to get from DC to Wilmington DE every day?

The irony is that Amtrak on the NEC will apparently meet the deadline. That wreck in the spring outside Philadelphia was entirely preventable using existing technology. Train control had been installed southbound coming into Philly but not for northbound trains. After the wreck it was quickly implemented.