How are crew requirements estimated for freight trains?
Freight trains, unlike passenger trains, don’t always have a fixed time-table, and are scheduled on demand. Every month, the Chief Operations Manager of a division issues a Power Plan which has the expected number of up and down freight trains that will originate from or require crew from a given station/shed. This estimate is used to estimate the number of freight crew that will be required for each section of the division, taking into account the average running time per section, durations of pre- and post-departure detention of crew, and resting times for crew (which includes 18 hours at the home stations and 8 hours at out-stations). The estimate is usually padded by a factor of 30% or so to account for unexpected traffic, sick leave, etc.
