WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation is hiring more conductors and says its service is improving thanks to operational adjustments that have reduced congestion, particularly along the Gulf Coast.
“We’re making significant progress and we recognize there is more to be done,” CSX CEO Jim Foote wrote in a letter today to the Surface Transportation Board. “We are investing in our workforce and network while engaging frequently with our customers to ensure their freight is reaching consumers in a safe and reliable manner.”
STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman, responding to shipper complaints about rail service as traffic has rebounded from the pandemic, late last month asked all of the Class I railroads to provide information on their hiring plans, as well as current crew and locomotive availability.
Trade associations representing fertilizer and chemical shippers have singled out CSX for widespread service problems, which they blamed on a shortage of crews [see “Chemical shippers cite widespread rail service problems …,” Trains News Wire, June 9, 2021]. The trade groups asked the STB to step up its oversight of CSX, hold railroads accountable for service failures, and require railroads to suspend minimum volume requirements when service is poor.
Foote says CSX’s crystal ball was as cloudy as anyone else’s as the pandemic hit last year.
“No country, business, or individual was prepared for what 2020 would bring or had clear expectations of how recovery would proceed in 2021,” Foote wrote. “The industry has seen a surge in volume being pushed through the supply chain following the COVID-19 shutdowns. At the same time, the supply chain has endured a variety of capacity constraints among various transport modes, shippers and receivers – no one railroad or any other segment of the freight pipeline has remained unaffected.”
CSX began to experience service disruptions late last year, particularly in the Gulf Coast, due to a combination of the pandemic, weather, and “alerting market dynamics,” Foote wrote.
“In response, we implemented a variety of strategies to work around congested areas. For some traffic we were able to move blocking to fluid yards and bypass constrained yards to provide more direct routing to customers,” Foote wrote. “We also partnered with other railroads to increase hand-off efficiencies and avoid congested interchanges where possible. For example, we moved a number of trains from the crowded New Orleans gateway to the more fluid Memphis gateway.”
CSX also has stepped up hiring and recalled furloughed crews as volume has recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
“CSX’s T&E active staffing levels have been brought back to within 4% of the pre-pandemic levels (6,851 now versus 7,132 March 2020) and we continue to hire and train employees in effort to get ahead of rising demand,” Foote wrote. “As of June 1, 2021, less than 1% of CSX T&E employees remain furloughed. The few places they remain on furlough are in locations with less volume recovery.”
The railroad will hire nearly 500 new conductors this year, and to date has hired almost as many conductors as it did in 2019 and 2020 combined. CSX also has expanded its training programs.
Foote says CSX has enough locomotives to handle current and expected demand, with 2,349 active units, 70 stored ready for immediate service, and 400 in longer-term storage. The railroad’s key performance metrics, including average train speed and terminal dwell, are improving, Foote notes, and its dwell figures are the best among U.S. railroads.
CSX is working with The Fertilizer Institute and American Chemistry Council to respond to their members’ service complaints. “Our review to date has pointed to the Gulf region coupled with a few other isolated spots and most of the identified concerns relate to conditions earlier in the year,” Foote wrote. “We are working directly with customers to resolve any concerns that remain.”
Like other railroads, CSX’s intermodal operations have been affected by a slowdown in loading and unloading of containers at customer facilities, which has created a backlog in intermodal terminals and shortages of both chassis and dray drivers.
In response, CSX is using off-site container yards at Memphis and Indianapolis to remove long-dwelling containers from its terminals. The railroad’s reservation system has helped balance incoming loads and train and terminal capacity, Foote says, and CSX has made some terminal adjustments as well.
“In Chicago, we recently shifted a large portion of international traffic out of Bedford Park into our 59th Street terminal while moving a large portion of domestic traffic from 59th Street to Bedford Park,” Foote says. “Re-grouping the traffic together in this way creates efficiencies and enhanced fluidity at each terminal.”
Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz also responded to the STB this week.
“Union Pacific is well-positioned to deal with the nation’s economic recovery in 2021,” Fritz wrote. “As demand increased across our network, we have quickly identified those growth areas and strategically placed crews to serve customers. Our pipeline of train crew, yard, and maintenance employees is robust, and these employees are qualified to fill future positions throughout our network.”
Fritz noted that despite reducing UP’s management and administrative staff over the past three years, the railroad’s freight car velocity and terminal dwell improved.
UP has begun developing a new terminal operations planning tool and a separate logistics management platform that will improve service. “Once operational, these workplace improvements will maximize car connections, help us develop innovative service products, and optimize terminal operations,” Fritz wrote. “These innovations will help Union Pacific continue to operate in a safe, efficient, and reliable manner for years to come.”
Canadian Pacific and BNSF Railway responded to the STB last week [see “CP, BNSF tell federal regulators they can handle rising traffic,” News Wire, June 10, 2021]. Letters from the chief executives of Canadian National, Kansas City Southern, and Norfolk Southern have yet to be posted to the STB’s website.
What blows my mind is that CSX (and every other major railroad) KNEW that the pandemic and the resultant downturn was temporary. So, instead of retaining trained crews and biting the bullet, CSX (and the others) let people go to ensure the immediate bottom line rather than looking to the future.
What incredible shortsightedness and utter stupidity. That short-term effort will likely cause long term loss that will effect the bottom line. Just dumb.
What congestion in New Orleans. CSX’s Gentilly yar is almost always 30-40 percent empty when I see it from the I-10 bridge over the Industrial Canal.
Also took off a few days of work and spent time in Bay St. Louis Mississippi. Stayed at a B & B 2 blocks from theCSX main tracks. Estimated 1 monster train thru town about every 3 hours or so. Unless they stop blowing their horn after dark and run fleets of trains between 11 Pm and 6 AM, how can their be congestion on this route. PSR is BS and management has know idea what’s going on out in the field.
Ditto to Al Dicenso’s comment. C S X ha been spouting the same BS, “we are at the doorstep of getting things under control” , for how long now?
I’ve seen the CSX ads. They do seem to be making an effort to hire. Alas it takes awhile to see results from hires.
This is a joke. One employee on TO claims the RR is in gridlock, insufficient crews, locomotives, rolling stock. Foote’s claims sound like he’s running a Potemkin village of a railroad.