September Surge and Regional Readiness

Sean Ireland

Good morning, team. Alright, so here we are with just about ten days left in September—kind of hard to believe, honestly! As I look over this upcoming stretch, it’s clear we’re heading into one of our busiest periods of the year, and, you know, that's not just a line I say to set the mood—it’s actually true. There's some big stuff coming over the horizon for us in the Northeast Region. First up, the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore is set to open Friday, September 26th. I can’t overstate this—it’s gonna be a huge boost for our operations and, really, for the whole network. We have to keep our eyes wide open and make sure everyone gets the info they need before and during the rollout.

Sean Ireland

And that’s just the start. We’ve got the Blue Ridge Subdivision coming online the following week—so, talk about momentum. Both these new pieces are gonna improve fluidity and cut out a few headaches, but, like I said earlier, big changes always bring up unexpected bumps. That’s where I need every single one of you keeping those feedback channels open, not just up the ladder, but out to your teams and back as well.

Sean Ireland

Now if you haven’t already, take note of these key dates—seriously, mark your calendars or, uh, set that phone reminder before you forget. We’ve got one last Employee Leave Session on September 23rd—if you’re a manager and haven't made it yet, this is your shot. Next is the Howard Street Tunnel opening on the 26th, and of course, don’t miss the Regional Townhall scheduled for October 16th. That’s gonna be an important one as we head into Q4. Alright, so as we pack all this in, just remember, these changes work if we work together and talk through it while it’s unfolding.

Sean Ireland

Now, shifting gears a little, let’s talk about safety—because, honestly, this is the part of the job that keeps me up at night, especially lately. We’ve hit a tough patch with human factor incidents. Eleven this month. Eleven. For context, this time last month, we were at one. And the northern zone's driving most of those—seven out of eleven—which, I mean, that’s a trend we can’t ignore. Looking back at the data, it’s pretty clear where the cracks are showing. We’ve been doing great on employee record reviews and those job safety briefings—really building strong relationships there—but we, uh, frankly lost some steam on following up with rule exceptions and making those unannounced operational tests stick. Especially on the weekends and in those tricky late-evening hours. I’ll admit, this is something we’ve gotta own and fix.

Sean Ireland

Starting Sunday, September 21st at 00:01, we’re ramping up our focus on operational testing—specifically on the ballast line and making sure we’re not just having conversations but following through in the field. Every day, every shift we want to see one Banner test and one equipment left in foul test. We’ve gotta get back that blend we had going—where daily engagement, operational tests, and JSBs all push in the same direction. And, look, it’s not about filling out paperwork or ticking boxes. It’s about making sure what we’re talking about in briefings is actually showing up out there with the crews.

Sean Ireland

Let me tell you a quick story from the field just the other day. We were talking about fall-from-height risks—yeah, it's been a pattern lately with a couple folks getting hurt detraining from locomotives, and, y’know, also some testing misses for riding equipment wrong. Anyway, instead of just repeating the rules, we got the team talking out loud about hazards that shift, and what their plan was for reducing exposure. By the end of that shift, I saw folks not just watching each other but calling out when things weren’t right. So, you see, sometimes just getting everyone to speak up makes the difference. Big opportunity there to set expectations every single shift.

Sean Ireland

Sean Ireland

Alright, last thing for this week is cost and service—that stuff everyone asks about but, let’s be honest, sometimes dreads talking details. With vacation season pretty much behind us and manpower finally catching up, we’re putting extra pressure on overtime and holdovers across every zone. I want every supervisor asking the tough “why” questions and driving costs down where we can. Especially keep an eye on that discretionary spending—MSE, One Card—it’s under the microscope as we roll towards Q4, and we all know how quickly those little line items add up.

Sean Ireland

On the service front, we saw our 32-hour car dwell tick up last week, which is something we just can’t let slide. The focus has gotta be on moving cars before they get to 32 hours. If something’s over that mark, stop and ask: why, and what could we have done differently? Same urgency applies to our 72-hour dwell—get aggressive on anything stretching past that, and don’t let anything drop. And a real big one here is consecutive missed switches with the customer. We’ve gotta spot them before they stack up and impact service. I always say, if you’re about to miss another switch, that’s when you stop and get people involved before the customer even notices.

Sean Ireland

Quick compliance heads-up, too: Mandatory ethics training is due tomorrow—Monday, September 22nd—and your monthly operations rule test is due September 30th. These deadlines aren’t just boxes to check. There’s a pretty direct line from team accountability here to our regional results out on the network. So let’s knock that out and keep everyone moving in the right direction.

Sean Ireland

Alright, I’ll wrap here before this turns into Sunday sermon hour. Appreciate everyone digging in on the details for another week. Let’s carry this momentum through to September’s end, and, well, we’ll keep building on what’s working week after week. Talk soon, and let’s make it a safe and productive stretch, everybody.