Centralization is nothing new in the RR industry - except that CSX and NS are late to the party and haven't figured out the logistics very well.
NS is doing it in stages due to the requirements of NYD, Section 4 and intra-carrier agreements, as well as some of the backend work that needs to be done, but as most is now IP based with CAD, CTC modernizations and other IP connected infrastructure, its really not a big deal.
"Route familiarization" is just a holdover from days past, and really isn't worth much these days. Districts are bigger, trains have changed. Two days is not enough time to see and know any route - nor ride trains that would make much of a difference in actually running them. The T-Plan is what dictates this.
Dispatchers electing to go to Atlanta will be consolated into one master roster.
If dispatchers came from other crafts, they retain or do not retain their seniority rights depending on where they hired out of. If they don't want to go, they can pick up right where they left off in the former craft - their seniority keeps going up while they were away.
The TCU/ADTA agreement allows temporary moves to other dispatching centers prior to the move to Atlanta. This again was to allow time for gradual intergration.
The agreement calls for Birmingham, Chicago, Illinois, Greenville and Roanoke to be abolished after the standard 30 day notice.
June was when they could abolish and move the KN jobs to Illinois then to Atlanta
September with a 45 day notice they can start the move from Dearborn, Decatur, Fort Wayne, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg to Atlanta.
Senoriry will be allowed by date or hire and if a conflict, the lower employee number will govern.
They are paying upto $30,000 in relocation expenses, and the interim dispatchers in between officers are being offered reimbursement for living/rental/mortage expenses until moved to Atlanta, two weeks paid for moving, and a few other incentives.
At last count, Atlanta was short 75 dispatchers with current GAD dispatchers working two desks (give or take) on average. When the complete move is finished, there may be a surplus of dispatchers with consolidated desks, but still yet to be determined when all the moves are finished. There are also some junior new hires holding regular assignments as they were hired directly in Atlanta, but when the final consolidated roster is finished, they may be out on the street.
As such, some of the new (to be hired) have been placed on hold while others are still hired in the current offices to backfill the shortages at the regionals.
UP and BNSF did it a bit better, and they only maintain a couple of regional offices due to specific operations that both are heavily involved in (Texas, California) but everything else is in Omaha and Fort Worth.
I've been in both UP's and BNSF's office, and they run pretty slick.
