The move follows word that came out at an investor conference in March that CSX was reviewing underutilized 150 local yards for potential closure.
According to a bulletin issued to CSX train and engine crews, tracks located within the yard limits of Locust Point are considered to be out of service until further notice. Notice was also given that trains arriving at CSX’s Bayview Yard facility in the northeast corner of the city on the former B&O Royal Blue route to Philadelphia are now to use that yard to service locomotives or for running around cars to work them from the opposite end.
Local CSX freight Y264 will now begin its run at Bayview, and service industries much the same as previously done.
Locust Point Yard is now empty of CSX traffic and locomotives, and all operations have been moved to CSX’s Curtis Bay Yard in south Baltimore on the other side of the harbor, or the former Mount Clare A Yard in southwest Baltimore. The MARC facility at CSX’s former Riverside shops will remain in operation to service MARC Camden Line trains.
CSX has indicated a willingness to continue serving customers in and around the Whetstone peninsula, such as the Maryland Port Administration piers, the landmark American Sugar Refining Corp., sugar plant commonly known as Domino Sugar, the Baltimore Sun printing plant which occupies part of the former Western Maryland Railway Port Covington Yard site to the south of Locust Point Yard, and possibly the BIDS bulk intermodal distribution terminal immediately east of Andre Street, although there are reports that CSX is considering transferring the BIDS Terminal to Mount Clare A Yard, a now-disused yard underneath Interstate 95 in the southwestern part of the city.
Observers believe CSX is looking at Locust Point’s valuable waterside urban property for commercial or residential development. The Locust Point residential neighborhood, surrounded by the loop of track that serves both ends of the yard and the waterfront industries, has greatly gentrified over the past two decades, including the Tide Point commercial development that now serves as the headquarters for the Under Armor clothing brand and a luxury condominium high-rise built into the former B&O grain elevator silos adjacent to the east end of the yard.
