CSX plans for future

Since Amtrak uses some CSX tracks, I thought this article might be of interest here. It's a summary ot an article in the British "Financial Times," which is accessible by subscription only.

Here's one quote: CSX CEO "Harrison said he was not going to buy locomotives or double-track CSX’s routes to accommodate coal."

If you're an optimist, this might mean less traffic competing with Amtrak trains sharing the same tracks. If you're a pessimist, you might be more concerned about shrinking incentive for CSX to maintain those tracks.

I'm no expert about any of this. Hope others here with broader knowledge will chime in.

More CSX plans for the future, according to Trains magazine, is that CSX is moving all of its dispatching centers back to Jacksonville, Fla. I understand that a completely centralized dispatching center can have some advantages, but Jacksonville, Florida, is the wrong location. When a hurricane hits there, it will shut down the whole railroad. Some would say that they can probably run the railroad from an auxiliary location, and they probably can. However, during a hurricane, where will their dispatchers be? Probably hunkered down at home protecting the homestead instead of at the satellite dispatching center.

jb

Double tracking for coal, honestly, is a poor decision. Investments in coal only make sense for those who have no other lines of business. The long term future of coal mining is a bleak one, and a mistake commonly made is clinging to old standards for income.

That doesn't mean they are saying they won't still take coal business, it's just not worth investing money in building it further.

Harrison's plan is to run long freight trains that amble along at barely acceptable speeds. He's probably planning to keep maintenance spending to a minimum to increase the company's bottom line to please his Wall Street overlords. As seen by CSX's stance on the revived New Orleans-Florida route, CSX will be even less cooperative than it has in the past, if that is possible.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB )has asked CSX to address "serious issues" causing delays and congestion. They want weekly calls to discuss these issues. This came after complaints from shippers in 2Q, notably Arch Coal.

CSX seems to be making a lot of changes very fast, which is causing operational issues. Remains to be seen how effective the changes will be: their stock price has backed off 10% after a big run up.

(Full disclosure: I own some CSX stock, albeit fewer shares than this time last week.)

The speed at which CSX is making significant operating rule changes is blistering. Several times a week there are new system bulletins changing this, deleting that, etc. Many safety rules have been deleted or watered down. Speed limits in yards have been raised. Fortunately, the majority don't affect Amtrak operations but if they did I'd have a hard time keeping up with this week's way of running the railroad. On the plus side, I'm hearing from CSX colleagues that management has been cut so deep, the only way they'll get in trouble is by putting something on the ground. No one is left to efficiency test or sit in the weeds to watch.

Evidently according to Reuters, Harrison has sent out a letter to customers apologizing for service disruptions and blaming employees who are "resisting changes". The union representing CSX operating employees has come back and said Harrison is to blame.

Ugh.

John Bobinyec said:

More CSX plans for the future, according to Trains magazine, is that CSX is moving all of its dispatching centers back to Jacksonville, Fla. I understand that a completely centralized dispatching center can have some advantages, but Jacksonville, Florida, is the wrong location. When a hurricane hits there, it will shut down the whole railroad. Some would say that they can probably run the railroad from an auxiliary location, and they probably can. However, during a hurricane, where will their dispatchers be? Probably hunkered down at home protecting the homestead instead of at the satellite dispatching center.

jb

Click to expand...

A hurricane will hit South Florida again before one does a direct hit in Jacksonville, so that's being a little paranoid there. Natural disasters can hit any state and effect operations in some way. Blizzards in the northeast and Chicago, plus the severe storms and tornado threats.

Looks like Harrison is solidifying his position at CSX:

http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/freight/class-i/changes-at-the-top-for-csx.html

So the drama continues @ "Crash,Smash and X-plode".

Bring on the popcorn and watch the action unfold!