Subject: Designate Deadheads

Beginning Wednesday March 3, 2010 the BNSF will provide Engineer pools in unassigned freight service the ability to utilize the Designated Deadhead agreement. Programming for this feature is still under development; however, our ability to utilize this feature has advanced to the point we believe a successful implementation can be achieved.

The Ft Madison to Kansas City double ended run thru on the Marceline Sub will be our first pool to implement on March 1. Additional pools will be included as requests are made through the General Chairman’s office. Part of the implementation process requires a constant visual on our pool rotation; as a result, we will only be able to implement one run thru every 72 hour period. As we gain confidence that our pool rotation is working correctly, we will implement additional pools as previously scheduled.

Here is how it will work in a Double Ended Run Thru:

ü Engineers will be designated as a deadhead at the away from home terminal. This designation will be displayed on our train line-ups, indicating “designated to deadhead”.

ü Engineers designated to deadhead will have the option of returning to their home terminals after being designated for a deadhead assignment.

ü Those designated for deadhead must obtain authority to leave the AFHT from the MCO.

ü Engineers authorized to depart on a designated deadhead must be placed on duty. The MCO will order the designated deadhead in the crew system after verbalizing to them that they are authorized to leave early. The Engineer is required to tie up once arriving back at the home terminal.

ü Engineers that depart the away from home terminal early will be positioned at the bottom of the home working board immediately upon tie up. Engineers ran around at the AFHT will be positioned in front of the designated deadhead upon their tie-up at the home terminal. Pool position will be determined by home terminal on duty time.

ü For those designated deadheads opting to leave early, all held time accruals will cease once placed on duty at the away from home terminal. For those choosing not to leave early, all held time rules will remain in effect.

ü At locations that have turn removal, Engineers that mark up after a designated deadhead arrives back at home terminal will go behind them on the board.

The process in a Single Ended Run-Thru will work essentially the same except for the designation each Engineer will view on the train line-up. Because the Designated Deadhead indicator is not available in single ended runs, it is necessary for the system to “lock” each Engineer to a deadhead symbol instead of designating them. The end result and the process remain identical to the process described above. The only difference is the impact each Engineer will see on our train line ups. Engineers designated to deadhead will indicate that they are “locked” to deadhead, not “designated” to deadhead.

In addition, the MCO will place comments on each deadhead they place on the line-up, indicating which Engineer will be designated to deadhead. The crew office will be responsible for “locking” the Engineer to the deadhead, thus providing accurate line-up information to be displayed. Each Engineer “locked” (designated) must still obtain authority from the MCO prior to departing the afht.

Please contact your General Chairman if you are interested in implementing the designated deadhead process at your location. You may also contact Crew Support Director Brad Henry with any questions you may have regarding this policy.