The Surface Transportation Board on Aug. 30 rejected an application filed by Great Lakes Basin Transportation, Inc. (GLBT) for authority to construct and operate a rail line in the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. STB cited that it found GLBT’s application “incomplete” and has discontinued environmental review.
CSX in a report to the Surface Transportation Board said employment fell from June to July fell by 785 to 22,313.
The luster is fading from Hunter Harrison’s “Dr. Fixit” image faster than an old jalopy’s back-alley paint job. His boisterous March arrival as CEO of CSX put in motion warp-speed, backfiring directives changing culture, operating practices and marketing practices.
The Surface Transportation Board on August 14 requested that CSX submit weekly specific service performance data to the Board’s Rail Customer and Public Assistance office for purposes of ongoing calls between CSX senior management and STB staff.
The 50 shades of vexation venting from self-described captive shippers over delay by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in considering their petitions to dilute rail regulatory freedoms is matched only by their asserting last year a contradictory 50 shades of encouragement that the Board do just that.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board has issued a decision determining the railroad industry’s cost of capital for 2016. In Railroad Cost of Capital—2016, Docket No. EP 558 (Sub-No. 20), the Board found that the rail industry’s after-tax cost of capital was 8.88% for 2016. For 2015, the cost of capital was 9.61%.
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 Chief Executive Hunter Harrison in a letter to the railroad’s customers apologized for mounting service issues, citing the rapid pace of operational changes he has implemented and blaming employees who have “pushed back” against those changes.
Growing concerns by shippers regarding service issues with CSX have prompted a response by regulators.
Port of New Orleans President and Chief Executive Brandy Christian has been appointed to the Railroad-Shipper Transportation Advisory Council (RSTAC).