"Not enough track time" is the constant wail of the maintenance worker ― it has been ever since I entered the industry 34 years ago ― and such recurring ills can become part of the culture. They're also frustrating to deal with. But let's peel back the onion on this one. Today, we are facing a huge uptick in business, especially on core routes, driven not only by overall traffic growth―railroad marketshare has increased from about 34 percent when I first hired out to nearly 42 percent now―but also by the nature of the traffic. More trains are scheduled, more have service commitments and more are customized unit trains, which often increase train count proportionately more than car count. Any train in the way means M/W can't get the track, and vice versa.
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