WILLARD, Ohio — CSX Transportation has added merchandise capacity at its Willard, Ohio, rail yard after phased improvements helped convert the idled hump yard to a flat switching facility.
Railroad officials say the former Baltimore & Ohio terminal can now handle 600 railcars per day, up from 300 two years ago. CSX shut down the hump at Willard Yard in 2017 under the leadership of E. Hunter Harrison and many of its tracks have been idled until the transformation project began two years ago.
The improvements involved removing the elevated tracks and retarder system, relocating dirt, and reconfiguring the idled hump area to the railroad’s classification yard. New track panels were installed to add more than 300 feet of yard track. Older power switches were converted to hand-throw switches to give ground crews better mobility.
Operations leaders have assigned six working trains to serve the terminal, saying the improvements reduce unnecessary miles and improves service times.
According to CSX’s 2016 annual report, the last full year Willard served as a hump yard, the terminal handled an average of 1,411 railcars per day.
The railroad did not disclose the cost of the improvements.
CSX produced this short video on the project.
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Wow 300 cars per day, down from 1,400 per day in 2016. But eight years and probably several million dollars later back up to 600 per day. Hunter would have been proud. His great legacy lives on.