February 3, 2002

Richard Etienne
Local Chairman BLE Div. 758
Forest Grove, OR 97116

Dear Richard:

Since I direct the TY&E Compensation Systems team that works with the FRA and manages TY&E Hours of Service reporting through the employee tie up process, Dave Dealy asked me to look into the concern you raised in your letter to him of January 19, 2002 regarding purged tickets. In researching what took place with Conductor ______ and Engineer _____ on January 16, 2002 when they were relieved while on duty, I found that the Crew Specialist in Crew Support failed to follow instructions issued via Crew Support Director’s Notice No. 28, dated August 1,2000, and erroneously purged their tickets from the tie up system. I have enclosed a copy of these instructions — Check List for Changing Called Crews. Item No. 2 is the specific instruction, which was not handled correctly by the Crew Specialist.

In working with the FRA, we realize there are situations where a Crew Specialist must be able to purge a ticket, as when a TY&E employee is called and released before going on duty, so the purge option must be available in Crew Support which is the reason for the detailed instructions in how to handle these situations. In the case of this Conductor and this Engineer, the process was not followed. Management in Crew Support has taken corrective action with the Crew Specialist who made the mistake in purging their outbound tickets.

Engineer Stowe and Conductor Tallent had responsibility as well to follow the process in place to get theft tie up and HOS information correctly submitted. All TY&E employees were issued instructions via broadcast November 21, 2001 reminding them to use tie up Option 1C (Yard) or Option 1D (Road) to create a tie up record for pay and HOS purposes if there is no outbound ticket for service for them in the system when they go to tie up. I have enclosed a copy of this broadcast instruction. This back-up function is provided so that a TY&E employee will always be able to submit his/her tie up and HOS information in the event there is a problem such as this one. In this case, the employee is responsible to create a ticket so that proper tie up and HOS information is provided. The Engineer followed instructions and completed a ticket. The Conductor did not. He submitted a special claim and by doing so failed to provide complete tie up and HOS information.

I appreciate you bringing this to Dave Dealy’s attention so I could outline the process in detail for you. I believe the processes we have in place with Crew Support and BNSF’s TY&E employees for recording time and HOS, when understood and correctly followed, provide my team with the required information we need for FRA reporting purposes. If you have questions or would like to discuss this further, please give me a call.

Respectfully,

Marka

Cc: Dave Dealy
Don Maze
Bobby Pechal
Dennis Pierce - BLE
Dick Clairmont - FRA

Director’s Notice

Director’s Notice No. 28 Division: All Date: August 1, 2000

Revised:

Reporting Type: All Reporting Station: All

Subject: Process for Changing Called Crews

Instructions: In order to comply with FRA requirements, and to correctly create Paperless tickets in the TSS Operating Timekeeping system, please ensure the following process regarding hours of service crews and cancellation of trains called is adhered to.

If you are instructed by Field or NOC forces to depart from these instructions, please contact a Manager on duty in the Crew Support Center prior to not adhering to the process.

Check list for Changing Called Crews

1. Crew is called for a train and released prior to going ON DUTY.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them to release the crew

b. Crew office: Cancel crew call in TSS. This will reset the crew flags associated with the train symbol and place the train back on the task list. This is regardless of release at home or on duty point, as long as prior to on duty time.

2. Crew is called for a train and released after ON DUTY time.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them to tie-up crew at the crew’s origin station. When a crew needs to be called, all subsequent crews must be ordered via RO.

b. Crew office: Do not cancel original crew call. Change original crew’s destination to the correct off duty location. Users must send an RO against train symbol.

When RO is received, call crew for train.

3. Crew is called for a train and is ON DUTY then used on another train.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them of the old symbol and the new symbol the crews are attached to.

b. Crew office: Cancel train call and outbound on correct symbol, or run CCTRNSWP if more than one crew is involved to reduce the number of TSS transactions.

4. Crew is called for a train and is ON DUTY, now is needed to move in deadhead/combined service.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them that the crew is now moving in deadhead/combined service. All subsequent crews called for train must be ordered via RO.

b. Crew office: Do not cancel original crew call. Users must send an RO against train symbol. When RO is received, call crew for train. Updated original crew to deadhead combined service status.

5. Crew is called for a deadhead move and is ON DUTY and has not departed on duty location. Crew is now needed on train that has not been called.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them to transfer deadhead crew to the train symbol.

b. Crew office: Cancel original deadhead symbol and outbound crew on train.

6.Crew is called for a deadhead move and is ON DUTY and has not departed on duty location. Crew is now needed on train that has been called

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them that the deadhead is moving on train symbol. User must RO deadhead crew to train id.

b. Crew office: Do not cancel original crew call. User must send an RO against affected train symbol. When RO is received, outbound deadhead id to affected train id.

7. One crew is called for a train and another crew called for deadhead. Both crews are ON DUTY. Deadhead crew is taking train.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office and inform them to swap crews from deadhead to train and from train to deadhead.

b. Crew office: Swap crews from deadhead to train and from train to deadhead.

8. Crew is needed to bring train or trains into a terminal.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must RO relief crew to affected train symbol.

                              b. Crew office: After receiving RO, call crew for train to be rescued. 

9. Deadhead crew transporting to terminal in van or train and used to pickup train.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must notify Topeka crew office and inform them to transfer deadhead crew to train id.

b. Crew office: Transfer deadhead crew to train id via CCTRAN.

10. Crews swapped en-route to crew destination station.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office informing them of the affected crews and trains.

b. Crew office: After receiving notice, swap crews to appropriate trains.

11. Crew is ON DUTY and has departed crew on duty location. Train is diverted and another crew is needed for detour route.

a. NOC or co-located personnel must call Topeka crew office informing them of the situation. Following crew must be ordered via RO.

b. Crew office: Do not cancel original crew call. Change original crew’s destination to the correct off duty location. ‘When RO is received, call crew for affected train.

Authors: BM Henry, BH Pechal

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(This broadcast message was never sent to employees, but merely popped up on the tie up screen for a time)

Broadcast Message Issued November 21, 2001

 

************Attention All **************************************

 

Reminding all employees, if for any reason an outbound ticket for service gets deleted or purged from the system — PLEASE USE either Option 1C (Yard) or Option 1D (Road) to create a record. This process will expedite compensation for service rendered in the same manner as being a regular submitted ticket.