Consist Accuracy

I have just been informed that NS is still having problems with consist accuracy and is going to start handling employees that aren’t updating their consist in accordance with Superintendent Notice GUGIB-029, which reads:

“Effective immediately no train will depart origin, pick up or set off locations until cars in the

consist have been visually verified to be in the right order to ensure paperwork is accurate.

Missing, extra or out of sequence cars should be corrected in MTR before departure.”

With the current scrutiny that NS is under, they are taking this policy very seriously. To make this easier on everyone, consist accuracy should begin with locals. If you’re on a local, make sure your cars are correct when you pull them from an industry. Then make sure you’re leaving the cars in the correct order when you place them in a track. This will ensure that road trains have minimal delay updating their consist or tracking down missing/extra cars.

When road conductors are picking up cars, take a blank piece of paper to write down the car numbers while performing the brake test. Then be sure that the consist is completely accurate and updated in the MTR before departing the pick up/set off location. Once the train goes by a scanner with an inaccurate consist, it flags the train and sends a report to the trainmaster. If there is any question about whether the consist is correct or not, contact the trainmaster, IDS, or the MTR desk.

I don’t want to see anyone getting in trouble for such a simple rule.

Thanks

-Coty Batemon