Call it a “Marty Party” scheduled for April 26-27 at which CEOs of the four largest U.S.-headquartered railroads will be placed as frogs on a lily pad in a lake of pain to be grilled as suspects in the offense of failing to provide adequate service to shippers.
As the evidentiary hearing regarding the reintroduction and expansion of Amtrak passenger train service between New Orleans and Mobile continues before the Surface Transportation Board, interesting operational cost-sharing questions have emerged regarding how Amtrak trains may be able to coexist with very long CSX freights.
At this writing, the first witness in the slugfest between Amtrak on one side and CSX, NS and the Port of Mobile on the other, is focusing on confidential matters. That creates an opportunity to think further about the importance of the case and how to report it to you. We had previously thought that a single report about this week’s hearing before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) would be sufficient, but the opening statements made by the parties April 4 forced a change in plans.
As part of a special series in Railway Age’s March 2022 issue, 11 North American railroad CEOs address what must be done to grow and gain market share from competing freight transportation modes. In the 4th edition of the series, Jim Foote, President and CEO of CSX, shares his perspective.
The next step in the Surface Transportation Board-instituted proceeding on Amtrak’s application to operate Gulf Coast service will be, as scheduled, an evidentiary hearing, according to STB’s April 1 decision denying a motion for mediation.
CSX has tapped Steve Fortune as Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Technology Officer.
Vietnam-based VinFast in July 2024 will open its first North American electric vehicle (EV) assembly and battery manufacturing facility, valued at $4 billion, in Chatham County, N.C. North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) reported on March 29 that it will provide approximately $1 million to help construct an auto ramp, part of the rail infrastructure needed for CSX or Norfolk Southern (NS) to serve the site.
Surface Transportation Board-sponsored mediation is the best means “to facilitate a prompt and orderly commencement of Gulf Coast passenger service while protecting the customers and shipping partners that rely on quality freight rail service,” according to Norfolk Southern (NS), CSX, and the Alabama State Port Authority and its Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks division (collectively, the Port). While Amtrak opposes their recent joint motion for mediation, all parties agree that an “amicable resolution” may be possible.
CSX is providing $700,000 to the University of North Florida (UNF) for its Diversity in Business program, and for the establishment of the Mark K. Wallace CSX Transportation & Logistics Endowed Scholarship.
Amtrak has issued a 2021 Host Railroad Report Card, ranking the Class I railroads for keeping Amtrak intercity passenger trains on time, and presented an award to Canadian Pacific (CP) for earning its sixth-consecutive “A” grade.
