The yard, like several others in recent weeks, would serve as a flat-switching facility only, according to the document. CSX has made similar changes to its local operations at former hump yards in Atlanta; Louisville, Ky.; and near Toledo, Ohio; since CEO E. Hunter Harrison took the top spot at CSX.
Sources familiar with the matter say doing away with Selkirk’s hump yard operations would mean more mainline switching for freight trains serving upstate New York. While it could mean additional work opportunities for mainline crews, local sources believe that the change in operations could result in the abolishment of some local yard jobs.
CSX representative Laura Phelps tells Trains News Wire that CSX has not made any announcement about changes to operations in Selkirk, but says that the railroad’s management team is continuing to take a comprehensive review of the company’s operations. She says that as any changes are made, they will communicate them to employees, customers, and other stakeholders who may be affected.
Selkirk Yard is a former New York Central hump yard and is one of CSX’s largest rail yards in the Northeast.
That woooooooosh you hear blowing in is E Hurricane blowing in
OK business in general and railroads in particular are always burning bridges to the past because they are so darn sure of what the future holds. They are nearly always wrong. Everything comes back in due time.
Can someone please explain why flat switching is better/more cost effective than using a hump?? It would seem to me that, given the volume of traffic that flows through Selkirk, humping cars would be more cost effective than flat switching.
I want to respond to the comments regarding “hate the job” and “respond to fear” in the context of changes that might be made by Mr Hunter. Both of those comments seem to be saying “I hate my job because they are making me work” and “I’m afraid they are going to catch me when I goof off”. If people would go to work with the attitude of “I’m going to work hard during the hours they are paying me” – which only seems fair – then what’s to hate and what’s to fear?
Mr. Cook,
Thanks for the info. As that old song goes, ” don’t get around much anymore.” It’s okay to mistake my name. Happens all the time.
Gerald, Frontier hump yard has been closed for years, used for car storage.
I hope CN keeps on KICKING C.P’s – – – right across CANADA as C.P just rose
$8. in the last ten days
Pure GOSSIP …..wonder how many shares these people who make such comments have in C.P
by the way SYMONDS & CO. exist in the real world
…………..so many people cannot see the forest for the trees !!
I don’t know if there is enough traffic at present to keep the hump in operation, but the yard is located strategically to handle traffic from four directions. There is a single receiving yard located behind the hump, and the design of the yard is such that any train that requires humping, terminates there, regardless of the direction it came from. The next closest CSX hump yard is Frontier, almost 300 miles to the west.
Still waiting for my proxy statement. Have any of you others who are stockholders received yours?
E.H.Harrison and Mantle ridge got to go all stock holders please vote NO NO NO on you,re proxy statement , They want to cut jobs and save money , I have a better idea Dump E E H and Mantle Ridge and you save a cool 168,000,000.00 now that’s cutting costs .
A great fallacy is that shareholders create capital monies for the company to use. Only stocks purchased directly from a company’s treasury create capital funds for the company. All other shares purchased on the open market generate no value for the company, and create headaches for the company due to the short sighted demands for “value creation” for the so-called “stakeholders”.
I passed through Cumberland MD on Sunday evening – lots of locomotives parked out back behind the loco shop. Hump was still working though.
I can’t believe whats going on at CSX, You stockholders have the last say in June! Show Hunter the door. Vote NO on his back-pay. Save your railroad while you can.
Looks like the best way to get full utilization of CSX hump yards would be to work toward increasing car loads.
Earl, you are right, like almost all railroaders, I was a union member. But under CP’s employee purchase plan I am also a shareholder. As I stated Hunter’s management makes a railway very efficient, my few shares more than doubled in value. However it became an unhappy workplace, ruled by fear.
I’ll drop by to check out your fabulous layout this summer.
Just like anything else, Unions are both good and bad. The good comes in that company Management has to have a little accountability and can’t just run over the employees without reason. The bad part is when the employees utilize the Union protections to become shiftless and lazy because they know that the Company would have to jump through hoops to fire them. I’ve seen companies close and people lose their jobs because their Unions were strike-happy, and i’ve also worked non-unions jobs where the bosses liked to dangle that right-to-work crap in front of you every time they want to kick you in the groin.
As far as CSX goes, yesterday I was out shooting a few pics. I waited on a clear signal for 45 minutes and never saw a train. Used to be that if the signal was there, a train was within the next five minutes. I toodled on over to the NS line and caught four within the same time period, and the signal cleared again as I was leaving. Ironicaly I even caught a CP unit heading up a train. Anyway, as much as I have seen traffic drop where I live, I don’t see how CSX will turn a profit if they don’t run trains. That is what a railroad is supposed to do, right?
C.P flat switched since day one in WINNIPEG,MB and are still doing it.
JOHN SUTHERLAND has it all in his comments 100% right !
It is easy to IDENTIFY a unionist by the comments made.
If it were not for us share holders they would not have a job !
I wonder how many NIONISTS have shares in any company ??
In Canada it is easy to identify a UNIONIST because they usually vote for THE SOCIALIST PARTY.
John Sutherland’s post explains what Hunter did at CP. Power switches and retarders were removed. Less Trackmen, less signal workers, no hump operators or track bleeders. Staffing in the yard refused by at least 1/3. Push the switch crews harder by strict enforcement of lunch breaks, eliminate coffee breaks and early quits and you have a very efficient railway. Only side effect is everybody hates going to work.
Harrison cut volume & destroyed customer service at CP. CN is kicking CP’s ass right across Canada. Harrison will create a mess at CSX and then move on into retirement while someone else has to come in a clean up his mess.
The shareholders provide the jobs? What capitalist fantasy world do Mr. Symonds and Mr. Crowe exist in?
Customers gentlemen; it is the customers who provide the jobs. Shareholders contribute to the capitalization of the railroad but, they do not create the jobs.
Messrs. Staten & McFarlane. You’re both commended for the hard, cold truth about railroads in the 21st Century. My wish is that BH would purchase one of the two, or three, options to expand the mighty BNSF; NS, KCS or CSX (or how about a P&W franchise, etc.- third party arrangement like FerroMex & Uncle Pete). The next great re-alignment/consolidations are on the horizon.
EHH is ensuring this vision via CSX. Bravo to their BOD..
“Buckle your seatbelts rail fans; it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”
The comment that BNSF does not have shareholders is false, its management answers to Berkshire Hathaway and if they don’t make money they will hear about it. BNSF is isolated somewhat from the day to day wall street crowd but they do have oversight.
Last I checked the volume through Selkirk was sufficient to maintain the hump operation, with the way CSX is laid out it will need a minimum of 3 humps to keep up fluid operations, that would be one each in the Northeast, Midwest and South. Pretty much anything that isn’t unit train or designated “Do Not Hump” will go over a hump at least once, and that will include loose tank car loads in some instances.
As for Mr. Symonds remarks about shareholders he’s actually incorrect when it comes to railroads, if the railroads where not beholden to any shareholders(like BNSF) then the railroad can focus 100% on the job of transporting freight without having to satisfy anyone but management when it comes to revenue and profit, which is a hell of a lot better than being beholden to Wall Street.
You can bet Selkirk is being downgraded. That’s Hunter’s style, layoff a lot of people. And they will not be the last.
Works two ways Mr Symonds. You are correct that the share holders provide the money for jobs. In turn, the workers provide the return on your investments.