CSX Transportation (reporting mark CSXT) is a Class I railroad operating in the eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track.
Video CSX Transportation
Early Years
CSX Transportation was formed on November 1, 1980, by combining the railroads of the former Chessie System with Seaboard Coast Line Industries, and finally with the Seaboard System Railroad in 1986. The originator of the Seaboard System was the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which previously merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1967, and later with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, as well as several smaller subsidiaries such as the Clinchfield Railroad, Atlanta & West Point Railroad, Monon Railroad and the Georgia Railroad. The origin of the Chessie System was the former Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, which had merged with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the Western Maryland Railway.
The name came about during merger talks between Chessie System, Inc. and Seaboard System Railroad, Inc., commonly called "Chessie" and "Seaboard". The company chairmen said it was important for the new name to include neither of those names because it was a partnership. Employees were asked for suggestions, most of which consisted of combinations of the initials. At the same time a temporary shorthand name was needed for discussions with the Interstate Commerce Commission. "CSC" was chosen but belonged to a trucking company in Virginia. "CSM" (for "Chessie-Seaboard Merger") was also taken. The lawyers decided to use "CSX", and the name stuck. In the public announcement, it was said that "CSX is singularly appropriate. C can stand for Chessie, S for Seaboard, and X, which actually has no meaning." However, an August 9, 2016, article on the Railway Age website stated that " ... the 'X' was for 'Consolidated' ". The T had to be added to CSX when used as a reporting mark because reporting marks that end in X means that the car is owned by a leasing company or private car owner. The company introduced its current slogan, "How Tomorrow Moves", in 2008.
Maps CSX Transportation
Conrail Acquisition
In 1995, CSX started a new liability insurance requirement of $200 million to introduce their official policy "No steam on its own wheels", banning the operation of steam locomotives and other antique rail equipment on their trackage due to serious business, safety concerns, and increased risk.
On June 23, 1997, CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) filed a joint application with the Surface Transportation Board for authority to purchase, divide, and operate the assets of the 11,000-mile (18,000 km) Conrail, which had been created in 1976 by bringing together several ailing Northeastern railway systems into a government-owned corporation. On June 6, 1998, the STB approved the CSX-NS application and set August 22, 1998, as the effective date of its decision. CSX acquired 42 percent of Conrail's assets, and NS received the remaining 58 percent. As a result of the transaction, CSX's rail operations grew to include some 3,800 miles (6,100 km) of the Conrail system (predominantly lines that had belonged to the former New York Central Railroad). CSX began operating its trains on its portion of the Conrail network on June 1, 1999. CSX now serves much of the Eastern United States, with a few routes into nearby Canadian cities.
Into the 21st Century
In 2014 Canadian Pacific Railway approached CSX with an offer to merge the two companies, but CSX declined, and in 2015 Canadian Pacific made an attempt to purchase and merge with Norfolk Southern.
In 2017 CSX announced Hunter Harrison as its new chief executive; a settlement with activist investor Paul Hilal and Mantle Ridge. CSX added five new directors to their board, including Harrison and Mantle Ridge founder Paul Hilal. Mantle Ridge owns 4.9 percent of CSX. On December 14, 2017, CSX announced that Hunter Harrison was on medical leave. Two days after the announcement, Harrison died, one day after being hospitalized for complications of an ongoing illness. CSX initially saw a 10% drop in its stock price, but turned around to hit a new 52 week high less than a month later (January 2018).
CSX divisions
CSX operates two regions of five divisions each: the Northern, based in Calumet City, Illinois; and Southern, based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Northern Region Divisions
- Great Lakes Division, based in Indianapolis, Indiana
- Chicago Division, based in Calumet City, Illinois
- Albany Division, based in Selkirk, New York
- Baltimore Division, based in Baltimore, Maryland
- Louisville Division, based in Cincinnati, Ohio
One line in the Northern Region travels into Canada:
- Montreal Subdivision (Albany Division) from Massena, New York, to Beauharnois, Quebec
Southern Region Divisions
- Atlanta Division, based in Atlanta, Georgia
- Nashville Division, based in Nashville, Tennessee
- Florence Division, based in Florence, South Carolina
- Jacksonville Division, based in Jacksonville, Florida (at Dufford Center)
Unit trains
CSX operates the Juice Train--a collective name for Train Nos. O823, Q740 and Q741, Q743, and Q745--which consists of Tropicana cars that carry fresh orange juice between Bradenton, Florida, and the Greenville section of Jersey City, New Jersey. The train also runs from Bradenton to Fort Pierce, Florida, via the Florida East Coast Railway. In the 21st century, the Juice Train has been studied as a model of efficient rail transportation that can compete with trucks and other modes in the perishable-goods trade. All Tropicana Trains are now added to Intermodal Trains such as Q188 and Q124.
Coke Express trains run between Pittsburgh and Chicago, and other places in the Rust Belt, carrying coke to industries, mainly steel mills.
CSX also runs daily trash trains Q702 and Q703 from The Bronx to Philadelphia (via Selkirk Yard) and then Petersburg, Virginia, where they interchange with NS. These trains consist of 89-foot (27 m) flatcars loaded with four containers of trash. Another pair of trains, Q710 and Q711, originate in Kearny, New Jersey, and terminate in Russell, Kentucky.
Another style of unit train is a local trash train, D765, that runs between the Maryland towns of Derwood and Dickerson. The train runs daily except on Sundays; on holidays it sometimes runs twice a day. Trash is carried from Montgomery County's Shady Grove Transfer Station to a waste-to-energy plant located off the PEPCO lead to Mirant's Dickerson Generating Station. The trip is roughly 17 miles (27 km), and the train is made up of National Steel Car Company-built well cars, hauling 40-foot (12 m) containers. The first NEMX equipment was built when the D765 first started operations in 1995. In recent years, the fleet has been somewhat upgraded, repainted, and new cars have been constructed. In the early days, the locomotives powering the train were a GP40-2/RDMT slug set, but currently the train can be upwards of 47 cars. The locomotives that now routinely power the train are a pair of EMD SD50s.
Working with Union Pacific, CSX runs an extended haul perishables train, Q090. Known by the railroad as the "Apple Train" or "Salad Shooter", the train runs from Wallula, Washington, to Schenectady, New York. This train typically runs with three of Union Pacific's newest locomotives and has its extended haul inspection from Wallula to Schenectady at Cleveland-Collinwood Yard on CSX headed in both directions. On the return trip, the train is labeled Q091. CSX modified its Train Handling rule book to allow this train to use more power axles. In early 2012 the "Salad Shooter" derailed just a few miles northwest of Greenwich, Ohio. No injuries were reported in the incident.
Locomotives
Paint and Aesthetics
In 2002, CSXT No. 8503, an EMD SD50 (that has since been downgraded to an SD50-2), was painted in the new yellow and blue YN3 scheme. More than 1,000 CSX locomotives have since been painted in the YN3 scheme.
CSX recently created a new paint scheme, known as YN3b, which updates YN3 with the most recent CSX logo. The first unit to wear this scheme was ES44AH 950. Currently, CSX's ES44AHs 950-999 and 3000-3249 and the ET44AHs 3250-3474 wear the scheme, along with recently repainted older locomotives, the first of which was SD70AC CSXT 4719, which was repainted at the Huntington Locomotive Shops in September 2012. YN3b is also commonly found on the SD40-3 rebuilds.
All of the former-Conrail locomotives in active service have been repainted in a CSX livery.
In the 1990s, CSXT began placing a lightning bolt decal below the road number on locomotives with AC traction and still continues this practice with the new GE ES44AH and ET44AH locomotives.
CSX also has several locomotives with "spirit" stickers with a name of an important person or location in the CSX system.
In 2016, CSX placed the logos of several predecessor railroads on some locomotives, in order to maintain legal control of the logos.
Locomotives
Former Conrail locomotives can be spotted by recognizing phase differences in engine models and numbering. Other spotting details can be inconsistent, but can include a number of the following: red marker lights, Leslie model RS3L or RS5T air horns (only a few original horns remain. Many have been replaced by K5LAs), former Conrail SD40-2s ride on Flexicoil "C" trucks and have anti-climbers, ditch lights mounted beneath the anti-climber, headlights above the cab (vs. CSX's standard practice of nose mounted headlights on all wide-nose GE units), and modified "Bright Future" paint with battery box faces painted yellow (instead of black or blue).
In 2015, CSX traded its 12 EMD SD80MACs for 12 SD40-2s from Norfolk Southern. They have all since been rebuilt as SD40-3s.
CSX has been significant in rebuilding locomotives. CSX has 3 rebuilds of its 4 axle EMD Locomotives. The EMD GP38-2, GP40-2, and SD40-2 have all been rebuilt to then Dash 3 standards with updated Wabtec Electronically Controlled Air Brakes, Electronic bells, (E-Bell), electronic handbrakes with a mechanical backup, an airstarter on the motor with an electric start backup, a new designed crash safe cab, a new electronic control stand, YN3B paint job, and Positive Train Control (PTC) computers. They became EMD GP38-3s, GP40-3s, and SD40-3s respectively. Most are also Positive Stop Protection ( PSP ) equipped Remote Controlled Locomotives (RCL) and have amber strobe lights on each side of the cab, a Cattron Locomotive Control Unit computer, an Air Brake Transfer Valve ( that transfers brake control from manual to computer control), a speed transponder scanner on each end, and a GPS Receiver on the cab roof to pinpoint the engines location. The Dash 3 RCL can also have its handbrake applied by a Remote Control Operator (RCO) by holding the left and right Vigilance switches on the Operator Control Unit (OCU) remote box! CSX has rebuilt EMD GP35 and GP30 units as road slugs. CSX has also downgraded SD50 and GP40-2 units in order to decrease the wear and tear on the engines the EMD GP40-2s that were downgraded from 3,000 horsepower to 2,000 horsepower during this process are known as GP38-2S locomotives and CSXT 6044 is one of those that was derated. Among its EMD rebuilds, CSX has done rebuilding on many GE locomotives as well. CSX has re-powered most of its GE CW60AC and CW60AH locomotives with a GEVO-16 engine rated at 4,600 hp (3,430 kW), essentially making them an over-engined ES44AH called a CW46AH by CSX. Former Conrail GE B40-8 units have also been downgraded to 2,000 hp (1,491 kW) in an attempt to decrease wheel slip and low speeds. They were redesignated as B20-8s and CSX has since sold or stored most of these units including the 6 axle GE C40-8s. Another group of projects are the "heavy" units. CSX has modified some GE CW44AC and CW44AH units to heavy units by adding extra counterweights to the frame and in the nose of the unit she and new computers to increase tractive effort at low speeds, they are 432,000 pounds.
CSX has also obtained a few EMD F40PHs that were retired from Amtrak for executive office car service and geometry trains.
With the arrival of Hunter Harrison, CSX has begun to store many locomotives. By the end of 2017, CSX plans to store or retire all of the GE CW40-8, CW40-9, CW60AC, CW60AH, CW46AH, EMD SD50, SD50-2, SD50-3, SD60M, SD60I, SD70M, SD70AC, and SD70AE (SD70ACe) units. Most of the GE C40-8, B40-8, and B20-8 units stored in Corbin, Kentucky have already been retired and sold off. Even with the passing of Harrison, his replacement, James Foote, confirmed the locomotives would still be retired.
Incidents
- 1986 Miamisburg train derailment
- 1993 Big Bayou Canot train wreck
- 1996 Maryland train collision
- 2001 CSX 8888 incident, 1 minor injury. This was the inspiration for the 2010 action film Unstoppable
- 2001 Howard Street Tunnel fire
- 2007 Brooks derailment
- 2012 Ellicott City Train Derailment, 2 killed
- 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment
- 2014 Lynchburg, Virginia oil train car derailment, no injuries
- 2015 Mount Carbon train derailment
- 2015 Tennessee train derailment
- 2017 Biloxi collision with tour bus stuck on tracks, 4 killed 44 injured
- 2017 Newburgh, New York train derailment, 2 minor injuries (Q409)
- 2017 Hardin County train derailment, 23 cars derailed, no injuries
- 2017 Crawford County train derailment, 21 cars derailed, no injuries
- 2017 Pittsburgh suburb coal cars derailment
- 2017 Hyndman derailment, chemical release and fire
- 2017 Atlanta derailment destroys occupied home
- 2017 Polk County, FL derailment spilling molten sulfur, no injuries (Q453-26)
- 2017 Taunton, MA derailment rail hits fuel tank, spilling everywhere
- 2017 Union, New Jersey derailment, no injuries (Q404)
- 2018 Cayce, SC collision involving Amtrak Silver Star and a CSX autorack train (Q210-03). 2 dead, 116 injured
- 2018 Alexandria, Virginia - May 19, 2018. Train derails in Alexandria falling onto Norfolk Southern tracks that cross underneath it
Railyards
Hump yards
In hump yards, trains are slowly pushed over a small hill as cars are uncoupled at the crest of the hill and allowed to roll down the hump into the appropriate tracks for outbound trains.
- Atlanta, Georgia - Tilford Yard (Yard Shutdown)
- Avon, Indiana - Avon Yard
- Birmingham, Alabama - Boyles Yard (classification hump closed)
- Buffalo, New York - Frontier Yard (classification hump currently closed)
- Cincinnati, Ohio - Queensgate Yard
- Cumberland, Maryland - Cumberland West Hump (classification hump closed)
- Hamlet, North Carolina - Hamlet Yard (classification hump closed)
- Louisville, Kentucky - Osborn Yard (for Prime Osborn, former CSX president) (classification hump closed)
- Nashville, Tennessee - Radnor Yard (classification hump closed)
- Selkirk, New York - Selkirk Yard
- Walbridge, Ohio - Stanley Yard (classification hump closed)
- Waycross, Georgia - Rice Yard
- Willard, Ohio - Willard Yard (double hump, eastbound and westbound, both closed)
CSX also operates numerous trains to and from Oak Island Yard in Newark, New Jersey, which is operated by Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CRCX) on its and Norfolk Southern's behalf. CSX operates two pairs of daily trains to/from Oak Island, Q433 and Q434 coming from and going to Selkirk, along with Q300 and Q301 to and from South Philadelphia.
Flat yards
In flat yards, a locomotive pulls and pushes cars to assemble a train.
Intermodal yards
This is an incomplete list of all intermodal terminals operated by CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc:
Former yards
This is an incomplete list of all intermodal terminals operated by CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc:
- Allston, Massachusetts - Beacon Park Yard
Unknown yards
This is an incomplete list of all intermodal terminals operated by CSX Intermodal Terminals, Inc:
- Readville, Massachusetts
NASCAR sponsorship
In 2013, CSX's "Play It Safe" campaign promoting safety near railroad tracks signed on as a sponsor for the No. 34 driven by David Ragan of Front Row Motorsports in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. This sponsorship has continued with drivers Brett Moffitt in 2015, Chris Buescher in 2016, and Landon Cassill in 2017.
Gallery
See also
- CSX milepost prefixes
- History of railroads in Michigan
- List of CSX Transportation lines
- List of CSX Transportation predecessor railroads
- Railex (refrigerated rail service - CSX and Union Pacific Railroad)
- Union Pacific Railroad
- National Gateway
- Largest domestic 53 foot container companies (fleet size)
References
Bibliography
- Solomon, Brian (2005). CSX. Saint Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-7603-1796-9. OCLC 57641636.
- Wrinn, Jim (2000), Steam's Camelot: Southern and Norfolk Southern Excursions in Color (1st ed.), TLC Publishing, ISBN 1-883089-56-5
External links
- CSX official website
- CSX route map
- CSX History
- CSX Dispatcher code cross-reference table
- New intermodal facility in Quebec
Source of article : Wikipedia
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