[monkeyshine]

A 15,800-foot train with distributed power locomotives placed in the middle and at the rear of a train

Just curious but why do it this way? Why not just run 3 separate trains at ~5,270 feet each?

[dblshot]

Unmanned engines.

[Soul of the South]

“Just curious but why do it this way? Why not just run 3 separate trains at ~5,270 feet each?”

Apparently it is less costly. Linked below is a 2019 article in Trains magazine about Warren Buffett studying Precision Railroad Scheduling (PSF), at rival Union Pacific, for his Burlington Northern Railroad.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/06-buffet-bershire-hathaway-is-closely-watching-bnsf-rival-union-pacific/

Here is another article about PSF and other cost reduction programs at US railroads.

https://www.breakthroughfuel.com/blog/precision-scheduled-railroading/

[Alberta's Child]

When a railroad's labor costs triple for a defined load, the shipping rates charged to the customers will have to increase as well. Some of those customers will use other modes of transportation to ship their loads, if that happens.

The railroad business model is built on enormous economies of scale. You can move 5+ truckloads of a typical commodity in a single railcar. Now multiply that railcar by 150 cars in a train, and you have the equivalent of more than 750 truckloads of freight handled by a single crew.

[DuncanWaring]

This way they only need one crew, and also collision-avoidance is easier with one train than with three.