bgum wrote:
Who told the RR to ship less diesel? Most fuel is pipeline. Then trucked from distribution terminal.
The Union Pacific RR (UNP) requested that Pilot reduce their shipments of fuel and DEF and UP has requested reduced shipments from other industries as well, fertilizer for one.
When rail traffic gets so heavy their minimal staffing levels and lack of "power", what we call locomotives, means there is no way to move the volume of freight that otherwise could be moved.
With today's labor situation and being VERY fussy w whom they hire it's tough to respond to what probably is unprecedented demand. A few years ago they had so much power available and less demand so they mothballed hundreds perhaps more locomotives. I'm not sure if, or how quickly they could put them back into service of if there are enough crews to operate them if they were available.
