September 5, 2003

Mr. Richard Etienne
Local Chairman
Brotherhood Of Locomotive Engineers
Division 758

Thank you for your letter expressing your concerns regarding the "information overload" relevant to the various operating documents including General Notices and General Orders.

I, too, share your concern and have already begun to work through the processes to bring this under control. Rather than address each bullet point mentioned in your letter I would like to address the overall processes we have begun to look at when issuing either an amendment or new notice. As a matter of fact, as of this writing we only have 35 notices in effect which is down from over 70 last month and down from the 57 that were in effect at the time of your letter. The term "only" is an ambiguous term and yet meaningful at the same time. From that I feel 35 is still too many and our Division officers will continue to eliminate and consolidate notices. Also our timeline to have a new Timetable updated and published for availability within the 1st week of October should also have a positive affect on eliminating outstanding notices. One other comment, is we will work through the "duplicate" issuance of a System Notice issued with same or like kind of information as does a Division Notice.

I also feel this same thought should be and will be carried into the use of Track Condition Messages (TCM). Each and every time I am out on the railroad I look at and challenge the amount of information on the TCM, as well as the length of time the information has been carried on the TCM.

No doubt we can and will do better with this overall information process.

Richard, thank you for your letter and expressing your concern and I hope you have seen and will continue to see progress in this area.

Yours very truly

/s/ Ronald D. Jackson
General Manager

Mr. Ronald D. Jackson
Northwest Division General Manager
BNSF Railway
2454 Occidental Ave South, 1-A
Seattle WA 98134

• Recently, our NWE General Notices jumped from #221 to #334 in just one day! 

• General Notice Numbers 313, 322, 323, 324, 326, 327. 328, 329, 330 and 331 were cancelled on 082703

• Notice # 323, which cancelled notices # 8, 89, 124, 177, 188, 192, 196, 276, 244, 263, 277, 278, 279,287, 294, 296 & 318. If this notice was cancelled, how does one get the official cancellation? It wasn’t there long enough for employees to see.

• Notices # 331 through # 326 were issued like a bad dream. Once notice canceling the previous one without end.

• GenNotice # 334 was issued without anyone deleting #276. (Yes, #276 is gone from the list, but no official cancellation was issued).

• There are currently two (2) GenNotices addressing vacation buy backs. Why?

• Notice #320 concerning a tripping hazard at Vancouver; Why wasn’t this put in the Vancouver Terminal
  notice? Why create a new one for this?

• Notice #319 regarding BNSF Alcohol abuse program was issued on 082203, but notice #2 issued on 011502 was not cancelled. Why?

• Notice #317 was issued on 082103 regarding Castle Rock WA. Why wasn’t that combined with Seattle Sub?

• Notice #318, canceling notice #316 (which was never issued) is still there. Why?

• Notice #292 regarding Hi-Wide’s should be in the Seattle Sub, not a notice all to itself.

• Notices #304, 303, 265, 253, 226, 206, 176, and 146 all concern Crew Support. Why aren’t these all on one notice?

• Notices # 294 & 287 has disappeared with no cancellation issued.

• Notices # 264, 257, and 140 all concern payroll. Why aren’t they all combined into one notice?

• Notice # 165 concerning Yardmaster testing was not combined with #315, issued on 082003.

• In NWE GenOrders, GO # 217 is still listed even though it was superceded by #240.