Howard Street Success and Q4 Priorities

Sean Ireland

Good morning everyone! Y'know, before I get started, I just wanna say — thank you. Seriously, the amount of work that's gone into the Howard Street tunnel project over the past, what, nine or ten months now? It's been nothing short of impressive. If you think about where we started, rebuilding Cumberland Yard so we could take on all that rerouted traffic, constantly adapting to new plans, and keeping things moving through Baltimore — it really took everybody leaning in, across every single department. This wasn't just about getting a tunnel open, it was about everyone rolling with the punches. It kind of reminds me of those late-night calls with the Cumberland team — you know, the ones that always seem to run a little too late, especially when you're on your third cup of coffee and you're still hashing out how we're gonna adjust traffic flows to keep everything on track while the tunnel was closed. Not always glamorous, but that's where you see the cross-team stuff really shine. Folks stepping up outside their lanes, helping each other out, and that’s honestly what made it all possible. The best part? We wrapped all this up ahead of schedule. I mean, there were naysayers — and I'll admit, I even had my doubts a couple times — but here we are. The tunnel's open, traffic's flowing, and we get to head into Q4 with a huge win under our belt. Timing couldn't be better, really. Project like this, closing it out as the quarter turns, it kinda sets the tone for everything else we’re gonna tackle heading into October. But, as good as all this is, there's no letting up. We’ve gotta be sharp about what comes next, especially with safety and performance on everyone’s mind. So, let's dig into what that means for the week ahead.

Sean Ireland

So, right out of the gate — safety. I know, we harp on this a lot, but there’s a reason. Last August, we kinda slipped on our operational testing and, not surprisingly, we saw human factor train accidents tick up in September. If you remember from a previous episode, we talked about how just a little less attention to field testing can snowball pretty quickly, and nobody wants to see that happen again. Starting this Sunday, September 28th, at 00:01, we’re dialing in on operational testing and those ballast line engagements. The plan is to make this absolutely routine, not just a box to check off. For job safety briefings, let’s keep them real — open-ended questions, actually listening to people call out hazards they spot and what their plan is to deal with 'em. The fall-from-height incidents, those have been a sore spot. Three injuries this past month just from getting on and off equipment or shove moves. That’s our red flag right there — so, this week’s Exposure Reduction Discussions are locking onto falls from height and shoves as our key risks. And then, operational testing — it’s a little checklist-heavy, but it matters. Every shift, folks are doing at least one shove banner test and one riding equipment test, except during the system blitz, of course. For Tuesday, we've got the Securement Blitz running 00:01 to 23:59 across the whole system. Another priority? Follow-ups. We still have about 50 folks who’ve had critical operational test failures since August 1st and haven’t gotten a follow-up — that’s gotta change, starting this week. Managers, you know the drill: two employee record reviews each week. Assistant Superintendents — you’re still on for those in-field operational test coaching sessions between 5 PM and 1 AM. Like I always say, coaching after hours hits different. Finally, the critical rule follow-up list by zone… let’s see, New England Zone just one person, Northern Zone has fifteen — fifteen's a big number, let's get after that — Selkirk two, Central East ten, Central West seven, Southern Zone fifteen as well. This is real accountability, and it doesn’t just keep us compliant, it sends a strong message about the kind of safety culture we’re building for Q4. And honestly, shout out to the folks leading by example here — Jeffery Staples up in New England, Jamie Lipscomb in Northern, Dan G over at Selkirk, Shawn Grimm, Joe Wyant, and Wes Ison, all across their zones. These are the guys really getting in the weeds, coaching in the field with their teams, making sure everyone knows it’s more than just paperwork. You all deserve some recognition for that.

Sean Ireland

Alright, shifting gears a bit — let’s talk costs and service because now that the Howard Street tunnel’s open and the network’s running smoothly, we’ve got some room to make a dent in those numbers. Vacation season’s wrapped, we got a stable network: this is prime time to dig into overtime and all those extra assignments. Take a close look at your locals, your yards, where’s that OT creeping in? There’s usually some low-hanging fruit if you pull up last week’s reports and compare. And look, I said this in our first episode. Service-wise, our big metric — the 32-hour cars across the region — improved again this week. We gotta keep that moving, especially now with some new train plans in play post-tunnel. Making those trip plans stick, making sure the train-to-train connections in each terminal are happening without fail, that’s the game. If you look at Customer Service Delivery, our CSD was sitting at 96.8% region-wide, which is solid. For the quarter, that's 94.7%, and year-to-date, 93.6%. So, if we keep that 96% average up, honestly, there’s no reason we can’t hit that 95% target by end of the year. It’s doable. But all that hinges on frontline leadership. Special thanks to zone leaders pulling a ton of weight with work record reviews and just being present with their people. Marcus Tate in New England, Matthew Webster in Northern, guys like Robert Behrens, Jeff Wagaman, Alex Malcom, Brandon Byrd — you’re driving not just compliance but genuine morale out there. I say this every week — and yeah, maybe I sound like a broken record — but field leadership is what makes or breaks our success, both on the scoreboard and in the kind of culture we build. So, as we close out the month and look into October, keep your heads in the game. We’ve got our monthly ops rule test due by September 30th, and October 1st, there’s the Northeast Region Safety Call at five o’clock, reviewing those Securement Blitz results. And, don’t forget the Town Hall on October 15th — invites went out. Hope to see plenty of faces there. Thanks again for all you do, and let’s keep pushing each other forward into Q4!