“For this year, we estimate the work rest implementation will cost upwards of $20 million.”

In context

“context on our labor agreements. And although they clearly come with some upfront cost, we see opportunities as well. Starting with the sick leave agreements. Our current forecast is that they will add roughly $50 million to labor expense in the second half of 2023, which is reflected in the cost per crew numbers I quoted earlier. We view these costs as added inflationary pressures that we will reflect in our pricing. For the brake person agreement, we've already seen the impact of that upfront payment. Our expected payback period is roughly two years as it allows us to redeploy crew personnel, save on costly borrow-out positions as well as reduce our current hiring needs. Implementation of the BLET work rest agreement will start over the next month or so with completion likely in 2024. For this year, we estimate the work rest implementation will cost upwards of $20 million. The challenge in putting a finer point on that estimate is both timing and forecasting employee behavior. We don't yet have an agreement with SMART-TD, and we are still working through some technology and logistics before we start the rollout. And while we certainly expect better availability, better service and more flexibility with our crew boards, providing more access to time off likely adds employees and expense. The exact math depends on how employees utilize this greater flexibility as well as how we translate better predictability into increased levels of productivity and service that ultimately drive profitable growth on our railroad. Looking at our 2023 capital allocation. Our capital plan remains $3.6 billion. We also plan to maintain our current dividend of $1.30 per quarter”