Service level and penalty

[Bob C]

NS (and predecessor Conrail) took great care of some special clients. We ran "Plant-Shutdown" trains of critical parts & supplies both east and west on "Special" movements through Pittsburgh, stored loads of "on-time-inventory" loads of freight in yards (acting as a rolling warehousing) for movement to Blue-Chip Business customers, again often on dedicated special trains. UPS Intermodal was the utmost Priority Customer, particularly during the (~3 month) Christmas Holiday shipping season. Some trains were mostly or only UPS - and would be held (for hours, if necessary) not to leave before UPS trailers could be delivered/loaded at the Intermodal terminal. Such service is not common, but (IMHO) likely depends on the type of freight andf the needs and compensation paid by special customers...much of this activity "enforced" by performance penalties in the contracts with the shippers. We did also guarantee coal deliveries (unit-train service) to some power plants, with non-performance penalties, due to inventory constraints and producer contracts - so not just 'finished goods' shipments. Bob C.