CSX Atlanta Downsizing Continues

BNSF FAN Jan 18, 2018

  1. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    That's such a valid point. I remember writing a paper on that very thing when I was in college in the latter '70s. At that time most railroads weren't even earning their cost of capital! Thankfully, changes brought by the Staggers Act of 1980 brought freedom in ratemaking that finally allowed rail carriers to put rate structures in place that increased revenue and profits enough to rebuild the industry.
     
  2. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    News: 08/09/2018 - [Heavily edited to shorten post] Up to two-thirds of intermodal service between CSX and UP faces disruption. Union Pacific customers sending freight east of the Mississippi have fewer options as changes on the part of CSX cut 197 of 301 origin-destination pairs provided once provided. Among the destinations affected are Baltimore, Charleston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Portsmouth, Savannah, Nashville and Columbus.
    UP customers will have to find new route options by September 17th "due to the complexity" of the CSX's intermodal service changes. UP will also continue to offer intermodal service with NS to several of the regions affected. <snip> [End]

    I figured that CSX had worked these operational details out with the western roads, but apparently not. Good news for NS, although their lines are already struggling to handle the previous influx of tonnage off CSX and general growth in business.
     
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  3. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Sadly, this rerouting of western traffic with Atlanta, etc. has already made shambles of Amtrak's Crescent schedule due to upgrading of KCS' Meridian Speedway. I assume that after September 17th it will be faster to drive between New Orleans and Washington/New York, even with spending two/three nights in motels. :(
     
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  4. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Sounds like something akin to shooting yourself in the left foot. Then wondering if it really hurts that much, so then a shot at the right foot to prove the pain... Or, possibly self-immolation.

    So, what will the name be for the coming and to be quite extensive 'CSX Memorial Hiking and Biking' trail network?
     
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  5. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    But boy oh boy, Wall Street is sure impressed with CSX's operating ratio. Right.
     
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  6. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    Nothing to do with running a railroad and serving customers. All about giving big dividends to investors every quarter. Once the railroad runs dry with no more customers, these guys just move on to the next naive unsuspecting industry ready to raped and sucked dry of cash. Nobody ever said there was any honor, sensitivity, and sympathy in banking. It's all about skimming yours off the top, then letting the chips fall where they may. :X3:
     
    Last edited: Aug 11, 2018
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  7. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not a conspiracist, but the thought crossed my mind that CSX's long term strategy may be to retain only its busiest lines, sell off what remains and set its svelte self up for an easier, lower cost buyout to raise even more cash for stakeholders. The road could be taken private like BNSF or bought by one of the Class 1s (other than NS) with an easier case to be made before the STB because CSX's footprint would be lessened, thus gaining protection from loss-of-competition arguments from eastern shippers.
     
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  8. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Shows what a fraud is Wall Street. A floundering company is somehow a great way to get a dividend check? Yikes....
     
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  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Has some similarities to the last few years of the Milwaukee Road. Stocks skyrocketed, as they shrank to a tiny regional, of not really much more than modest bottom line?
     
  10. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    Hedge Fund 101 - bloat the stock price and increase dividends - increase income to the Hedge Fund, let the crippled carcass descend to the bottom of the ocean to be picked of by carrion feeders.
     
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Translation: Very legal financial rape, pillage and burn. :sick:

    The enriched go about their blindly happy lives, gained from these manipulations. Meanwhile, those trampled into the mud, ruined by such tactics, have no recourse but to suffer and struggle. And then outside folks wonder about the hostility, animosity, antagonism, friction, antipathy, animus, acrimony, bitterness, rancor, resentment, aversion, ill feeling, bad feeling, ill will, bad blood, hate, loathing, enmity, hatred.... Gee. Life is grand. :( It's a wonderful world.
     
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  12. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Hmm. I must be missing something here. What ever happened to the old idea of enriching yourself by providing something that people need?:confused:
     
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  13. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    That would be what is, or was, known as "customer service". An all too often missing concept these days. :(
     
  14. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    In the world of Wall Street, they call it "organic growth", i.e. using your own firm's wisdom and assets to build the business. It seems that some companies have no time for this, and instead prefer to take on debt and overpay buying other firms, often destroying the inventive cultures at the firms they buy.
     
  15. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Close offices and replace knowledgeable staffs with a toll free number staffed by untrained temps reading scripts. Then ask callers to select options, remind them that their call is being recorded and that their call is important, then put 'em on hold.
     
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  16. ddm502001

    ddm502001 TrainBoard Member

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    Can see UP or CP taking this on as it comes up for sale, as noted will be many side run roadbeds enter the Doom of Trail.
     
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  17. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Many years ago now, one of my friends and his dad were both on the local volunteer fire department. One night they were called to a grass fire by the tracks, and after putting out the fire, they discovered the end of a freight car axle. They immediately called the CSX emergency number which was answered by a recording.
     
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  18. Hardcoaler

    Hardcoaler TrainBoard Member

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    Holy cow -- that's unpardonable! In this age of downsizing, they probably forwarded all of the calls to a train Dispatcher to handle. :rolleyes:
     
  19. mmi16

    mmi16 TrainBoard Member

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    If there call was answered by a recording, they did not call the right number - the number that is displayed on a license plate sized tag that is placed on the stanchion of the crossing protection (automatic or cross buck) that is at every road crossing on CSX tracks. The number on those plates is a hot line direct to the CSX's Public Service Command Center (PSCC) who have the technology to correctly route public concerns to the proper operating personnel to resolve that particular concern. Their phone lines are not answered by a recording.
     
  20. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks. That's good to know.
     

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