After Orville
The late Orville Harrold may have been the "soul" of the Providence and Worcester Railroad but he also put together a management team that remains at its heart, poised to carry on his company legacy. That, says newly named P & W President P. Scott Conti, as well as others close to the company, is what will keep the sterling short-line operation true to a motto Harrold coined decades ago. "The railroad that can, and will" appears set for continued growth, distinguishing itself as a rarity in its industry - a company that is debt-free, makes money, provides top-notch service and treats its employees well.
By most accounts, Conti, a 48-year-old, 17-year veteran of P &W, is well-positioned to carry on the hands-on, no-nonsense management approach of Harrold, who led the company as president for 25 years. For the past six years, Conti has worked closely with Harrold, who, at age 73, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Nov. 22. Conti, says William Beebe, general chair of the United Transportation Union, which represents 50 P&W workers, is Harrold’s "heir apparent. He learned the business A to Z," he says, adding, "We look for big things from him."Conti himself is soft-spoken and still uneasy in the public limelight after the shock of Harrold’s death. "Orville was a truly exceptional leader," he says. "No one person can fill his shoes the way he did." But together the "well-balanced" management team Conti now heads, "will lead the P&W into the future with confidence," he says.
The future won’t be without formidable challenges. The railroad has faced a one-third jump in fuel costs over the past year, Conti says. And the continued decline of New England’s manufacturing segment, that once provided the bulk of railroad freight business, makes operating a railroad in the region a difficult task.
But, as company Director John Healy puts it, "For all intents and purposes, the organization is well. And Scott is the ideal successor."
New markets on the tracks
Conti is assuming the helm of the $26.5-million P&W, which serves Connecticut and New York as well as Massachusetts and Rhode Island, at a time when a major new freight market is on the verge of opening up for the company. A 10-year, $100-million project to provide an added freight line from the Rhode Island port of Quonset/Davisville, which is a major distribution center for imported automobiles, to P&W’s rail yard in Central Falls is slated to be finished in 2006, Conti points out. The new corridor clears the way for P&W to add automobiles to its freight mix for the first time.
Conti explains that the 22-mile access corridor is needed because the two existing lines from Davisville are dominated by electrified passenger service for which the wires are too low to accommodate trains with racks to transport automobiles. P&W has the exclusive freight-operating rights to Davisville, Conti says, but autos currently imported there are transported by truck.
"It’s a market that we’ve looked at for years," Conti says, noting that, "Today we handle zero automobiles. We’d like to be a solid service provider to the auto industry."
Conti declines to speculate on the potential amount of new business auto freight from Davisville could bring, saying, "Nothing’s for sure; there’s always competition." And J. Joseph Garrahy, who serves on the company’s board of directors and is a former long-time governor of Rhode Island during the time the Quonset Naval base was closed and redevelopment of the port began, says it’s hard to say how much auto cargo the new line could generate.
Chop Hardenbergh, editor of the Yarmouth, ME-based Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports newsletter, says, however, the auto freight from the port would be a "significant boost" to P&W’s business. According to Hardenbergh, the company has made gains in other freight markets as well as it faces the "huge challenge" of transitioning from handling raw material for the manufacturing industry to moving other cargos. Its move into transporting coal imported via Providence into the region was a positive step several years ago, according to Hardenbergh, who has been covering railroads for eleven years. The company, he says, has also made strides in transporting waste, including dredge from New Bedford Harbor and construction and demolition debris.
Conti says the addition of coal, imported to Providence from South America and China to provide cleaner-burning fuel to coal-fired plants in the region, to P&W’s varied cargo roster four years ago has brought a good chunk of business to his company. The railroad also transports a lot of construction aggregate in Connecticut, Conti says, as well as hauling lumber and chemicals.
An outstanding reputation
The 150-employee P&W, the only debt-free public railroad in New England, has competed well against trucks and other modes of shipping and expects to continue to do so, according to Conti. The secret, he says, is "maintaining a quality freight railroad that works to serve its customers" and taking pride in its quality infrastructure.
Hardenbergh and others say the Worcester-based short-line does have an outstanding reputation for that very thing. "The P&W is the only railroad that I’ve never heard anyone complain about," says Hardenbergh.
"Everyone has the highest regard for the Providence and Worcester Railroad," says Beebe. "It’s a first-class operation. They believe in the No.1 thing that they offer the public, and that is service."
Beebe, who has worked in the railroad industry since 1951, says he’s "dealt with them all" and seen what often happens to service. "They all get top heavy and they do not dedicate themselves to the one commodity they offer – and that is service," he says. "The P&W is exceptional. They don’t just expand for the sake of expanding."
Beebe says longtime P&W Chair Robert Eder "is the brains; he’s a genius." And Harrold was "certainly the soul of the Providence and Worcester Railroad."
Railroads can show a profit by not investing in track maintenance, Healy says, but the P&W has put "an inordinate amount of capital" into maintaining its infrastructure.
Another asset that the P&W has invested heavily in is its employees. Healy notes that both Harrold and Eder have always worked with labor unions to treat their employees well. "They are probably one of the best organizations I’ve ever worked with," he says.
UTU’s Beebe agrees. P&W, he says, is very proud of the fact that it has three international unions representing its workers and has worked cooperatively with them throughout its history. The company, he says, treats employees "like family" and "it’s been very productive for both of us."
In October, the UTU reached a landmark, eight-year contract with P&W in which workers get fully paid health benefits, a "pure" cost of living raise over the term, profit sharing and up to six weeks paid vacation. All those benefits go well beyond the current national freight agreement standards, Beebe says. What’s more, he adds, P&W provides the best equipment and tools for employees to work with and regularly recognizes their seniority and achievements. "The employees are well-paid and the company is making money," he says.
Conti says employees have always been a solid part of P&W’s success and he expects to continue the favorable relationship with labor. He will have a chance to prove it in 2006, when the two other unions representing workers there - the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen and the Transportation Communication Union - will face contract negotiations. Attempts to get comments from those unions for this story were unsuccessful at press time.
Up through the ranks
Like his mentor, Conti has climbed up through the ranks at P&W. He joined the company in 1988 as an engineering manager after working for international contractor Perini Corp. He holds a bachelor’s of science degree in civil engineering from Norwich University in Northfield, VT. He became chief engineer at P&W in 1998 and vice president of engineering in 1999.
Conti is a practitioner of what Healy describes as the hands-on management style characteristic of the P&W. He doesn’t just run things from the office but is "out on the trains" as Harrold was, he says. Conti has been in the "second position" at the company for years, Healy adds, and Harrold had expressed confidence in his abilities.
In fact, according to Garrahy, the board discussed a succession plan centered on Conti six months ago "given that the management team was in their 70s." He says he thinks the transition will be a smooth one.
And Director Charles McCollam Jr. says he doesn’t expect much change in the way the company is run under Conti. "He’s younger and he’s not as crusty," he says, adding, "I don’t want to use crusty in a bad way." Not only has Conti worked his way up as an integral part of management over the years but, he adds, Eder remains at the helm as chair as well. "That’s one of the secrets to the success of the Providence and Worcester," he says.
Conti says he intends to follow the same guidelines that Harrold has used in the past, including allowing the 36 members of management in the company to have control over their respective departments. Harrold, he says, "let the management team run the railroad."
Conti vows to also continue Harrold’s efforts to be a voice for the railroad industry, a role which Healy singles out as one of the most challenging for its future. "The true benefits of the railroad aren’t fully recognized," Conti agrees. "Society today is an own-your-own-vehicle-and-drive-on-the-highway society. Railroads are not always utilized to the best benefit."
He says he had always expected to take over the helm of the P&W as part of the succession effort but didn’t expect to do so this soon. "I’m proud to continue [Harrold’s] legacy at the Providence and Worcester," he says. "He was truly a mentor. He was a very strong leader."
Micky Baca can be reached at mbaca@wbjournal.com
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments