Overview
The Railroad Industry is rich with culture, lore, and its own vocabulary. While we will refrain from some of the more.. interesting cultural slang, it is important to understand the unique language and terms you may read or find, in agreements. The information below has been organized into Alphabetical order.
Terms
AFHT – Away from home Terminal.
Air Hose – A hose like device used to couple the air brake system of cars and engines together.
Brakeman – A class of employee who’s role is to provide in-field support to the conductor of the train, when handling cars during set-out, pick-up, or switching operations.
Carrier – This ubiquitous term is used to denote the Railroad Company and is used in place of the Corporations legal name, such as Northern Pacific or GRWR.
Chain Gang – Chain Gang – A type of unassigned or assigned through-freight rail service. This differs from pool service, in that pool service is trip rated and has set limits.
Conductor – A class of employees who is trained and licensed to direct the operation of the entire train crew and ensure the safe shipping, delivery, and operation of the train and its contents to a destination.
Coupler – The device used to lock in and link a rail car or engine together.
Engineer – A class of employee who is trained and licensed to operate the engine of a locomotive consist, which may be attached to one or more railcars.
ETD – End of train device.
A device that is connected at the very rear of the last car or engine in the train. This safety device is used to send telemetry data to the lead engine in order to monitor air flow and pressure in the train brake system. This device can also be used to put the train into emergency, starting from the rear of the train. This action is taken, when the front of the train is unable to put the train in emergency or there is a blockage preventing the entire train from going into emergency.
MOU – Memorandum of Understanding
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is an agreement between two or more parties/institutions. MOUs are not legally binding, but serve to document each collaborator’s expectations or intentions. Think of this as a explanation of how the related agreements should be executed.
PLB – Public Law Board
A grievance arbitration tribunal formed by the National Mediation Board(NMB) to resolve minor disputes between an individual railroad and unioncovered under the Railway Labor Act (RLA). Public Law 89-456 authorizes the NMB to set up a PLB on the written request of either party. That law also authorizes parties to form a special board of adjustment (SBA) to arbitrate minor disputes about specific types of grievances that the parties designate.
Pool Service – Established in 2002 in a national agreement, pool service is a thru-freight service that has established limits and has been Trip Rated.
RLA – Railway Labor Act
The most influential and important law ever passed governing rail operations.
A federal law enacted by Congress to regulate labor relations for private sector rail and air carriers and certain enterprises owned or under the control of those carriers (45 U.S.C. §§ 151–164 and 45 U.S.C. §§ 181–188).
The central purpose of the RLA is to maintain the flow of rail and air commerce without work stoppages. To serve this purpose, Congress incorporated mechanisms into the RLA to:
- Allow employees to freely associate and join unions as they choose.
- Ensure the prompt resolution of disputes concerning:
- rates of pay, work rules and working conditions;
- workplace grievances; or
- the interpretation of labor-management agreements about rates of pay, work rules or working conditions.
In addition, the RLA:
Creates rights and obligations for covered employers, employees and unions that can be enforced through federal court litigation. Authorizes the National Mediation Board to:
- Investigate who is the appropriate representative of a covered employer’s employees.
- Mediate collective bargaining disputes involving parties covered by the RLA, also known as minor disputes.
Road Service – Road service is one of the three types of rail service, with passenger and yard service making up the other two. Road service is a freight service that differs from yard service in that the work crews perform is beyond 25mi outside of the terminal to service freight customers. Crews in road service, only handle freight, whereas passenger service can service passengers and limited freight.
Road Service can be broken down into six distinct classifications:
- Short Turn Around Service (STAS)
- Shuttle Service
- RoadSwitchers
- Pool Service
- Work trains
- Locals
SBA – Special Board of Adjustment
Similar to a PLB, (See above) but is usually formed to cover minor issues and is formed only for a smaller duration.
STAS – Short turn around Service.
Trading Trains – The act of swapping to a different train and heading back in the direction a crew traveled, once they have arrived at their original destination.
Example: A crew gets on train, C-SCXMGB-E21 at their home terminal. They depart their home terminal taking the train to some other location. Upon arrival at their destination, they board another train, C-MGBSCX-E19 and depart back in the direction they came from.
Terminal – A contractually defined physical location that designates a start or end point for train operations and is used to define a yard location.
Yard – The switching location inside a terminal.
Yard Service – Yard service is defined as various car and engine handling work, such as switching, spotting, or train make-up performed at and within 25 mi. of a home terminal.