CSXT Integration Updates
[Excerpts from reports to CSXT employees] . . .
6-1-1999 .. The early morning hours of CSXT's June 1 Split Date brought the spirit of cautious optimism to facilities throughout the system. Moderate traffic was reported to be moving safely, with no congestion. Power and other resources were in the right place. More than 200 trains moved over the cutover, with good crew availability.
6-2-1999 .. Overall, an injury-free day was reported yesterday on the CSXT acquired territory. Locomotive power was properly positioned and in good supply. Crew availability was greater than 80 percent. This morning, 106 trains were running in the acquired territory at 6 a.m. The first eastbound intermodal train that left Chicago yesterday arrived in Willard 30 minutes ahead of schedule [and] reached its destination - North Bergen, N.J. - two and one-half hours early. "We've experienced a few execution problems, but overall this is working well," said Mike Madden, manager-train operations, Philadelphia Blue Room. "We need to keep our focus as the traffic builds at the end of the week."
6-3-1999.. On the former Conrail territory, safety overall remains on the positive side. Train velocity is in the satisfactory range, and locomotive power availability is good. Terminals and yards are busy but fluid. Crews continue to turn out... Despite the generally good reports, however, only two days have passed since Split Date and much work remains to be done.
6-4-1999 .. Lightning hit the Operations Center at about 5:30 p.m. yesterday, disabling key communications and signaling systems on portions of the CSX network. The outage affected passenger as well as freight trains, with Amtrak, Virginia Railway Express and Maryland Area Rail Commuter trains halted during some of the rush hour... Signaling systems were disabled in the Michigan area and in the West Virginia/Kentucky coal region. The route between Chicago and Philadelphia was also affected. Dispatching capability was restored at 9 p.m., but service was intermittent until full restoration, including backup capability, at about midnight. All but two communications circuits had been restored by 2 a.m., and communications were fully restored by 9 a.m.
6-7-1999 .. By the end of last week and through the weekend, operations slowed in several pockets along the CSX acquired network. Teams from CSXT and CSXI worked around the clock over the weekend to address data integrity issues coming about as a result of the cutover. The number of customer calls was somewhat higher, and intermodal train performance was not up to the usual standard. Internally, other issues were also addressed. Technology, Operations, Customer Accounting, Training and Development, and Payroll teams, among others, spent the weekend fine-tuning implementation procedures to help move traffic on the CSX system.
6-8-1999 .. The CSXT Customer Satisfaction Center has handled a heavier volume of customer calls since the average on Split Date. Yesterday, CSC representatives handled more than 1650 customer calls, up considerably from the same period last year... And today, calls are up 14 percent over the same period yesterday.
6-9-1999 .. Yards on CSX's northern region so far are receiving more traffic than anticipated, and that's good news, said Jeff Stephenson, director-consolidation. "Early traffic volumes would indicate that the benefits of this integration may be greater than they were thought to be. Cleveland, for example, had heavy traffic during the transition period, meaning that trains have not yet settled into the pace they will have when we get to the final service plan." Service is far from stalled, and employees are making adjustments. "We're determined to avoid the pitfalls inherent in such a large transaction," he said, noting that customers and shippers' groups have been public in their support. The locomotive power situation has been good throughout the system, with very few trains held for power post-Split.
6-10-1999 .. With operations continuing mostly smooth in CSXT southern territory and heavy in the north, yesterday's activities brought better train flow out of the heaviest yards. Traffic out of Cleveland and Indianapolis, in particular, picked up momentum... Inquiries from customers continued heavy through the Customer Satisfaction Center... The integration of the acquired Conrail lines continues to progress, but not without some transition issues that are frustrating for some of our customers.
6-21-1999 .. Despite measurements showing heavy activity in the northern CSXT terminals and higher crew mark-offs over the Father's Day weekend, the railroad was fluid in most areas Monday morning. Crews were able to make additional switches for local customers over the weekend in the New Jersey Shared Assets areas, thus alleviating some congestion in the Baltimore/Philadelphia to New Jersey corridor.
6-25-1999 .. CSXT representatives, and their counterparts from Norfolk Southern, outlined the status of the Conrail integration this week in meetings before the Surface Transportation Board and the National Industrial Transportation League's Conrail Transaction Council. "Comments from customers and regulators were generally frank," said Tom Schoenleben, assistant vice president-marketing strategy and support. CSXT representatives described the processes undertaken so far to effect the integration and addressed the issues of slower service and congestion in the northern region. Toledo, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and the North and South Jersey Shared Assets Areas were identified by CSXT as regions under most intense focus for service improvements in the days ahead.
.