WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation has asked for a delay in the evidentiary phase of the Surface Transportation Board hearing over Amtrak Gulf Coast service — but the public will not be informed why.
A filing posted to the STB website today (Wednesday, Feb. 23) says the railroad “does not likely make this request, given the prior instructions by the Board regarding the procedural schedule and the agency’s workload, However” … after which approximately four and a half lines of the document have been redacted, before the filing resumes, “Granting this request for a three-week delay to the hearing will avoid any prejudice to CSXT’s abiity to put on an effective case in chief.”
The filing request the hearing, scheduled to begin March 9 instead is held April 5-6, with April 7 held in reserve if a third day is needed.
The filing says Norfolk Southern, the Port of Mobile, Ala., and Amtrak do not oppose the request. Amtrak confirmed that it does not object in a statement to Trains News Wire, adding that it “believes the dates of April 5 and 6 (with the 7th as needed) are sufficient.”
I watched the hearing last week and Chairman Oberman had a fairly lengthy list of things he asked CSX to have available for the “trial” including a drone flyover of the entire route. The look on the CSX attorneys faces reminded me of when a professor in college handed out a very complicated assignment and allowed very little time in which to complete and turn it in.
If Amtrak is okay with it then fine, still smells of CSX playing games.
Well CSX does have their hands full, being involved with all three cases in front of the STB. Does anybody know if STB is required to consider each case before it independently if they have overlapping parties and overlap each other in time? (Please label any responses as opinion or what knowledge/expertise you have to base answer)
If your writers are going to quote an item I would suggest copy and paste. From the above article: “does not likely make this request, ” from the linked STB posting: “CSXT does not lightly make this request,”. Both copied and pasted for accuracy.
I suspect that this text, and much of the gibberish we read here and in newspapers, has been dictated into a phone and the translated results not carefully checked.
I guess CSX needs more time to get their story straight since it appeared they were fabricating (embellishing?) some elements of their argument. Plus this will give them more time to lobby in DC and perform a sniff test of the House Transportation Committee to see if they are willing to come up with some dough to pay for it.