A recently deployed Operations task force has achieved a series of improvements at our Conway Yard’s locomotive shop in Pennsylvania. The Atlanta-based task force is comprised of leaders charged with identifying and fast-tracking opportunities for efficiency throughout Operations. Together, they are implementing strategies designed to reduce dwell time and move trains faster. Already, they have made notable progress across the network in just a few short weeks, including:

• Increasing Merchandise Velocity by 10%
• Decreasing Train Starts by 11%
• Decreasing Terminal Dwell by 10%

“I am very encouraged to see firsthand how people, process and accountability are driving productivity and performance, said John Orr, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “Our operating plan, which encompasses all our operating functions; mechanical, engineering, and transportation, serves as the anchor for processes and our drive for improvement. Ontime performance is an important metric that creates alignment and accountability to our plan.”

Here’s what our Operations leaders had had to say about the successes at Conway:

John Orr
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Our on-time performance here at Conway has gone from 30% to over 90% in the last two weeks. So, what’s that mean? That means our trains are being built and ready on time. Our crews are coming in with enough rest to cycle back on time. And our locomotive shops are repairing locomotives and having them ready to go. The minute that crew is available, depart that train on time.

Jamie Williams
AVP Mechanical

There's not a single supervisor that can do it by themselves. There's not a single employee that can do it by themself. It's truly a collaborative effort with everybody pulling together to make it happen. And that's through the entire Conway team. That's for Transportation, Engineering, the whole nine yards.

Dominic Fandale
Director, Mechanical Operations

We have had an incredible team effort here at Conway, both inside the Mechanical department and outside of the Mechanical department. From Maintenance of Way, who's come in and put tracks back in service that have been out of service for years inside the car shop to help facilitate additional heavy repairs. We've also had help from our friends in the car admin team in getting cars that needed to be cut up, cut up in a timely manner, as well as our friends in Transportation that have been placing the right car on the right track for us.