Countdown to Split Date
[Excerpted from weekly updates to CSXT employees]
March 31, 1999 . . . The Conrail Integration Program Management Office (PMO) team, headed by Bob Haulter, meets twice weekly to review preparations for Split Date. More than 30 committees have presented their integration plans and follow-ups in the PMO's eighth floor GOB conference room. Now, as Split Date approaches, Haulter and the team advise all employees to get ready. "This event is real and it is fast approaching," Haulter said. "The work of all of our integration teams is reaching its final stages, and we're lined up for the June 1 Split." Despite all of the planning and preparation, Haulter says it is likely that not everything will work according to plan in the weeks after Split. "It is our goal to respond to issues as quickly as possible," Haulter said. Talks are under way this week, and will continue through the next 60 days, with Norfolk Southern and the Shared Assets Areas to contain the effects of the many changes surrounding Split Date.
April 7, 1999 . . . "This is probably the most complex, complicated merger in the history of American industry. There's never been anything done like this." This was among the comments about the Conrail integration offered by CSX Chairman, President and CEO John Snow to a group of about 30 national, business and trade journalists in Washington last week. "The future of American railroading lies in the hands of CSX, Norfolk Southern and Conrail. If we fail, we will set the future of railroading back" and focus the attention of legislators in Washington squarely upon us, he said.
April 14, 1999 . . . For employees who think Split Date will be moved again beyond June 1, Bob Haulter, assistant vice president-integration planning, says they had better think again. He has a message for anyone who is thinking of putting off doing important tasks. "June 1 is not moving," Haulter said. "It is going to happen." During the remaining 47 days, Haulter says members of the 20+ integration teams will have to practice what they've learned, pay attention to details, and execute. If the CSXT merger with Conrail were being compared to a big football game, said Haulter, "to this point we have worked our game plan well. However, the game will be won and lost by how well every employee executes from Split Date forward."
April 21, 1999 . . . When Split Date dawns the morning of June 1, about 140 extra hands will be in field locations to support operations employees. "We started with a matrix from Philadelphia to St. Louis," said Bob Bernard, general manager-service lane integration. "We identified the sites where crews go on duty, where yardmasters are located. Then service lane general managers and our team culled the matrix to see where best to provide coverage." Various skills are represented among the extra people. They include former HPO mentors, experienced yardmaster and conductor trainers, service designers, trainmasters, and experts on both Conrail and CSXT mainframe systems. In large terminals, we'll have two or three levels of technical people," Bernard said, helping to sort through questions on Split Date and armed with advice on who to call and how to access data. Maintaining direction with the least upheaval is the overall goal of Bernard's team.
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