WASHINGTON — Surface Transportation Board Chairman Patrick Fuchs has called on CPKC to provide the board with a plan to address issues resulting from last month’s computer cutover for former Kansas City Southern portions of its system.
The cutover, which occurred the weekend of May 3, has led to service issues in Louisiana, eastern Texas, and parts of Mississippi, as initially reported by Trains News Wire [see “CPKC system cutover triggers service woes …,” News Wire, June 10, 2025].
“The agency has engaged with CPKC customers who continue to report elevated delays, missed switches, and congestion,” Fuchs wrote in a letter today (June 17, 2025) to CPKC CEO Keith Creel, citing board data showing higher dwell at key yards, and decreases in velocity, on-time performance, and industry spot and pull. The letter says the board expects CPKC to provide a Service Action Plan to address the issues by this Friday, June 20.
Fuchs wrote that he expects that plan to “detail the specific, concrete steps CPKC intends to take to recover from its current state, communicate effectively with its customers, and interchange efficiently with other carriers: and to “include key performance indicators, the railroad’s best estimate for the timing of recovery, and relevant information about any forthcoming technological changes.”
Trains News Wire has asked CPKC for comment.
Some customers previously told Trains News Wire they had diverted some traffic to trucks or requested alternate routings to avoid the U.S. part of the CPKC system. Creel told a May 21 investor conference that he expected the situation to be normalized in two to three weeks.
It’s now been more than three weeks. It appears that Creel’s forecast of recovery was too optimistic
Inadequate training on the new system for former KCS Yard Managers.
Only parts of TX, LA, & MS were affected. Has the rest of the system been converted or is it to be converted later?