30(8) delayed by T&E crew rest!

[hessjm]

So here we sit in the station an hour late with no movement we are told that because train 29 arrived 1.5 hours late today the crew did not have enough rest yet, so we are waiting on them. It's hard to believe that there isn't any one on the extra board qualified to take us to Toledo! Oh, and the diner has delayed service for an hour too - didn't know the T&E crew affected that. Welcome Chicago Amtrak departures!

 

[greatcats]

From my experience as a commuter system dispatcher, I could see situations where they may have been permitted to work with less than eight hours rest, as long as they had four hours off. Amtrak may not employ that practice, for good reason, as these trains are prone to delays. ( They cannot be " on the rail " more than 12 hours in a 24 hour period, if I remember that correctly. ) But it would have cost Amtrak to call out another crew because of an hour or so delay, and then the regular crew would just be deadheaded back to Toledo, something of a waste. I would think that the diner would have started serving, however.

 

[jis]

Isn't there something in the contract about how much rest OBS crew must have between runs too?

Which brings up the question, does the OBS crew do a turn on the same day in Chicago for the Cap and LSL?

 

[crew]

Isn't there something in the contract about how much rest OBS crew must have between runs too?

Which brings up the question, does the OBS crew do a turn on the same day in Chicago for the Cap and LSL?

Isn't there something in the contract about how much rest OBS crew must have between runs too?

Which brings up the question, does the OBS crew do a turn on the same day in Chicago for the Cap and LSL?

It's not a matter of what's in the contract...it's Federal law (just like for airline pilots)...

 

[jis]

Isn't there something in the contract about how much rest OBS crew must have between runs too?

Which brings up the question, does the OBS crew do a turn on the same day in Chicago for the Cap and LSL?

It's not a matter of what's in the contract...it's Federal law (just like for airline pilots)...

To ask a more specific question, what is the federal law relative to OBS crew? Is it the same as for T&E crew? Obviously not. My question was about OBS crew not T&E crew.

 

[greatcats]

The operating crews under under Hours of Service, which is Federal law, but it does not apply to the onboard service crews, which sometimes have some mean turnarounds. To my knowledge the LSL and Capitol are staffed from New York and Washington and turn the same day in Chicago, the exception being the Boston section, which is staffed out of Chicago. I believe this is correct, but it is subject to change.

 

[jis]

Thanks greatcats! Appreciate the answer. I suspected as much but needed verification.

 

[OBS]

Yes, this is correct.

 

[battalion51]

So here we sit in the station an hour late with no movement we are told that because train 29 arrived 1.5 hours late today the crew did not have enough rest yet, so we are waiting on them. It's hard to believe that there isn't any one on the extra board qualified to take us to Toledo! Oh, and the diner has delayed service for an hour too - didn't know the T&E crew affected that. Welcome Chicago Amtrak departures!

As far as I know the LSL and Capitol are staffed by Toledo based crews to Chicago. So no one in Chicago would be qualified to take the train to Toledo because it's not their train.

 

[greatcats]

There probably are some crew members based in Chicago that would be qualified to go east and a crew probably could have been rounded up if there was a really severe delay, sickness or injury, or the crew was taken out of service, but this would have just complicated matters. Either that or deadhead a crew member in a cab from Toledo.....more $$$$$down the drain. But I have a question for OBS. Will send private message.