More than 80% of respondents to a CSX Service Quality survey issued by Cowen and Company say they have experienced service issues since the company initiated President and CEO Hunter Harrison’s Precision Railroading. According to Cowen Managing Director and Railway Age Wall Street Contributing Editor Jason Seidl, “nearly 40% [of respondents] have switched some freight to Norfolk Southern, and 67% have transferred freight to a trucker.”
CSX President and CEO E. Hunter Harrison, our two-time Railroader of the Year, reached out to me personally following publication of my blog, in this space, asking about the events at CSX since he took over the railroad. What I wrote was based solely on correspondence I received from various stakeholders. I promised Hunter that I would publish his response, unedited, and he could use as much space as needed:
Intermodal and transport provider Schneider and CSX have signed a new multi-year agreement.
CSX on October 11 updated service conditions, post-Hurricane Matthew:
Starting September 1, train traffic on the Louisville and Indiana Railroad (LIRC) between Louisville, Ky., and Seymour, Ind. will begin moving at increased capacity, faster and more often.
The Georgia & Florida Railway, LLC (GFRR), an affiliate of OmniTRAX, Inc., “continues to make shipping by rail easy” with the implementation of Railinc’s Interline Settlement System (ISS) in partnership with Norfolk Southern, CSX Transportation and GE Transportation’s Digital Solutions business. ISS is the standard process in the rail industry to share revenue when two or more railroads handle a shipment. Additional OmniTRAX rail lines will convert to ISS in collaboration with the company’s Class I rail partners during the coming months.
Governor Nathan Deal, the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) and CSX Transportation signed a memorandum of agreement July 28, 2015 establishing the Appalachian Regional Port in Chatsworth, Ga. Its service will include North Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and parts of Kentucky.
Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2015 Transportation Conference in Boston on May 14, 2015, CSX Chief Financial Officer Fredrik Eliasson said that, for the full year, CSX “continues to expect EPS growth in the mid-to-high single digit range, as well as meaningful margin expansion as the company makes progress toward a mid-60s operating ratio.”