A.C.H. Photos
The E. Hunter Harrison Rule
Today, the Federal Railroad Administration released their proposed crew rule. In it, the FRA proposes to regulate the size of crews that must be on most freight trains, requiring that an engineer and a conductor are on the train. It also includes limited exceptions for, and a process to approve, single person operations. This rule is the result of a lot of things, but has been ironically pushed over the finish line by the "precision scheduled railroading" philosophy of "he who shall not be named." PSR has forced Class 1 railroads in a race to the bottom as they instituted leadership teams solely focused on cutting costs, on a blind and dangerous path to where we are now. But they are learning the hard way, as are many American businesses, that it is PEOPLE who make your operation run. And as they struggle to fix the self-inflicted damage, an industry which has gone largely unregulated since the Staggers Act, is facing more (and might I say necessary) scrutiny on their operations. I chose this photo, because it emphasizes the importance of the two-person crew in hard situations, such as a car taking out a crossing gate at a busy intersection in Ashland Virginia: it required signal maintainers, dispatchers, engineers, and conductors to safely coordinate the movement of Q410 (it was Q back when this was taken) through downtown Ashland. It is quite ironic that the philosophy of a man who tried to take the people out of railroading ended up being what drove the government to regulate and require them. It shows what happens when you take a philosophy too far, and become path dependent. The E. Hunter Harrison rule- a legacy to always remember.
The E. Hunter Harrison Rule
Today, the Federal Railroad Administration released their proposed crew rule. In it, the FRA proposes to regulate the size of crews that must be on most freight trains, requiring that an engineer and a conductor are on the train. It also includes limited exceptions for, and a process to approve, single person operations. This rule is the result of a lot of things, but has been ironically pushed over the finish line by the "precision scheduled railroading" philosophy of "he who shall not be named." PSR has forced Class 1 railroads in a race to the bottom as they instituted leadership teams solely focused on cutting costs, on a blind and dangerous path to where we are now. But they are learning the hard way, as are many American businesses, that it is PEOPLE who make your operation run. And as they struggle to fix the self-inflicted damage, an industry which has gone largely unregulated since the Staggers Act, is facing more (and might I say necessary) scrutiny on their operations. I chose this photo, because it emphasizes the importance of the two-person crew in hard situations, such as a car taking out a crossing gate at a busy intersection in Ashland Virginia: it required signal maintainers, dispatchers, engineers, and conductors to safely coordinate the movement of Q410 (it was Q back when this was taken) through downtown Ashland. It is quite ironic that the philosophy of a man who tried to take the people out of railroading ended up being what drove the government to regulate and require them. It shows what happens when you take a philosophy too far, and become path dependent. The E. Hunter Harrison rule- a legacy to always remember.