RAILROAD VISION 2020: THE NEXT GENERATION

摘要

ITEM 1: U.S. unemployment is at a 50-year low. ITEM 2: U.S. railroad unemployment is shooting upward. When major railroads are laying off mechanics and train-and-engine crews by the hundreds, what incentives do they have to attract new hires? None, apparently, until Precision Scheduled Railroading goes away, with its emphasis on parking scores of locomotives (so less need for mechanics) and running 3-mile-long trains with distributed power (so no need for a second crew). With Wall Street pressure on managements for "enhanced shareholder value," PSR could be around for a while.