A significant portion of the coal produced at the Decker mine has historically gone by train to the Midwest Energy Resources Company (MERC) site in Superior, WI, unloaded there, and then placed onto vessels for ultimate delivery to coal plants located along the Great Lakes. The amount of coal being brought in to Superior has really declined the last couple years, not necessarily because of actions in the US (though there's no denying the future of coal in the US does not look bright), but because of what's happened in Canada.
Coal has essentially been abandoned as an energy source in Canada in general, and the province of Ontario in particular. Several large coal-fired power plants in Ontario that were receiving regular shipments of coal out of Superior have shifted to natural gas or renewables, causing MERC to lose a big chunk of business.
To combat this loss, as well as losses that loom due to United States policy, MERC has been pushing to establish export deals, especially with European markets. There's been some success to date, with a deal to send coal out of Superior to the Netherlands and Spain, but so far not enough is being exported to make up for the business that has been lost. The ramifications are being felt all along the railroad tracks and, now, all the way to the mine in southeast Montana. The Duluth News-Tribune has covered this with some articles over the past year, but the links to those have long died. Still, I'm sure you could find some more information by running adequate terms through Google.With regard to the issue of BNSF having trouble attracting crews to eastern Montana and North Dakota, yes, my hunch is that readers would be interested. Certainly I am.
By the way, there's something Bakken-related I can work into this comment. Because of the decrease in demand for coal at places like the port in Superior and elsewhere in the Midwest and along the East Coast, BNSF recently announced that some trains that normally would have passed through Minot and Williston on their way between Chicago and the Pacific Northwest will be shifted to BNSF's historically coal-laden corridor that runs southwest from Chicago and passes through Iowa, Nebraska, and northern Wyoming. The main reasons cited were in order to make room for more oil trains set to come out of the Bakken region, as well as the railroad's continuing difficulty to attract crews to eastern Montana and North Dakota, which I think most honest observers would attribute at least partially to union regulations (I can explain that in greater detail, if desired).
FWIW, Trains Magazine was the one to report on the traffic shifts and a link to what was said is at (http://trn.trains.com/Railroad%20News/News%20Wire/2012/11/Bakken%20oil%20increase%20shifts%20other%20traffic%20around%20BNSF.aspx). It's behind a paywall, though, but what I typed was the crux of the article.
Thank you for taking the time to provide the background to a very complex story.
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A Note for the Granddaughters
On a completely different note: during the early 70's, specifically the 1973 oil embargo, I honestly thought "we" might run out of gasoline and/or energy in general. I was quite concerned. I was going to school in Los Angeles at the time. I started taking the bus: that tells you how concerned I was, using the LA bus system. My roommate was never worried; he continued to drive to school every day. I did not ride with him; I truly thought "it" was all over -- our economy. Talk about naive.
One of the "nice" things to have come out of the domestic coal story is the realization that "we" will "never" run out of fuel. That coal we are not using will be around for centuries.
Not only will coal be around for centuries, it will provide a ceiling in the price Americans pay for energy: if other energy gets too expensive, we will return to coal. I feel very, very badly for all the laid-off coal workers who may not find new work that pays as well, but the current situation tells me that the US energy future looks very, very good.
I'll warn you now this will be a long comment...
ReplyDeleteDifficulty in attracting railroad crews to the Bakken area has to do mainly with seniority-related rules. On the railroad seniority is everything – the longer you've worked, the greater your seniority, and, consequently, the more say you have in what days you get off, which jobs/trains (good or bad) you handle, and how secure your job is should business slow down and the railroad need to furlough.
To most, BNSF might appear to be one big unified system stretched over thousands of miles of track. Behind the scenes, however, especially in terms of union agreements, the whole system is better viewed as a blend of a few smaller systems that are still shaped from decades past before mergers of several separate railroads created the BNSF.
One way this is manifest is with seniority and can be imagined in terms of two big divisions: one consisting of the areas that were mostly part of the Northern Pacific (NP) and Great Northern (GN) system prior to 1970 and a second including all the rest of the BNSF network.
The NP/GN area covers most (but not all) of the BNSF track found in the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest -- specifically, MN, ND, SD, MT, ID, WA, OR, and one city each in WI, IA, and BC. Within this area are what are called five different "seniority districts" consisting of half a dozen or so crew bases, or cities out of which conductors and engineers work. The bases themselves can be split into more than one district, too; Minot, for instance, is split into one district for trains traveling east from there and one for trains traveling west.
Now, the most important, and unique, thing about these five districts is that each is "closed," meaning that one's seniority can transfer to and from any of the bases within the district, but NOT into or out of the district. This is significant if demand for crews suddenly increases, because, to use an example, a conductor who has worked for the BNSF in Nebraska for 15 years but now finds things there slow due to the downturn in coal isn't going to just transfer to Minot, where work is plentiful, since, if he did, his 15 years of seniority would be erased and he would essentially revert back to his first day on the job. Even somebody who works closer to Minot in, say, Havre or Minneapolis probably isn’t going to transfer either, because Havre and Minneapolis are in different districts than Minot and, again, all accumulated seniority would be lost in the move, which, it should be noted, is subject to decision by the powers ruling the district and not necessarily granted even in cases where someone is willing to give up seniority.
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The closed districts can also discourage new hires too, since if you are hired into one of these districts, the boundaries of the district pretty much define where you will work for the rest of your railroad career. Often many prospective hires see employment advertisements and come from afar to inquire about working for BNSF in places like Minot, Dilworth (Fargo), Havre, or Grand Forks. They think along the lines of, "hey, I'll just work in _______ for a few years, gain experience, and then transfer to a base closer to home as soon as a job there opens up." When they learn doing something like that will essentially be impossible, they drop their ideas of going to work for the railroad in whichever city they were originally attracted to.
ReplyDeleteCoupled with all the other jobs in the Bakken region that do not generally ask for a career-long commitment to remain in the region, you can see why the railroad in particular could have a difficult time attracting workers who might be inclined to initially view the ND/MT area as a temporary place to work until the economy or outlook back "home" improves.
I could end the discussion there, but I feel I should mention that the reason these districts exist is because many years ago the crews voted to establish them. To an employee, working in a closed district can be very advantageous. For instance, you will never have to worry about some Joe Schmo from another end of the rail network hundreds of miles away coming into your district and usurping you in seniority, possibly even causing you to be furloughed in a downtown. Likewise, if you are a local kid in a place like Minot who wants to have a career in the railroad, you stand a better chance of getting hired in your own hometown since you won't have to compete with transferees from across the country also desiring a job in the same city. One might also argue these districts have a penchant for greater safety in a dangerous profession, since often you'll work with the same people for years and get to know them very well, unlike in an open district where there is more turnover due to people transferring in and out with frequency.
More information, including a list of which bases are in what district, can be found elsewhere on the internet such as at (http://www.getarailroadjob.com/forum/topic/best-locations-to-hold). Not all crew bases are equal in terms of employees or function, though. In District 03, for example, the bases with the most employees and jobs are Aberdeen, Forsyth, Mandan, and Minot.
I should also note I didn't even scratch the surface with regard to bases and districts for the employees who repair and maintain the track. They have an entirely separate system and since there are more of them than there are conductors and engineers, there are a larger number of bases they work out of.
I'll end this massive comment with that. If there are any other facets of railroading you have a question about, ask and I’ll see if I can answer. Otherwise, I hope all the readers who stuck through in reading this comment have a Happy Thanksgiving!
From a worker's point of view, I can see the reason for the districts, and, in general, the system probably works pretty well. However, when it is time to ramp up, especially in lower populated areas and where manpower is critical, it would make it very challenging.
DeleteI do have to chuckle: a corporation would not be able to restrict trade across state lines but the unions can do the equivalent, I suppose.