JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — CSX wants to create a single, systemwide contract covering conductors represented by the SMART-TD union.
The railroad currently has three regional contract agreements with the union. In a notice to conductors, CSX says that consolidating those contracts into one “will allow CSXT to better utilize trainmen employees throughout CSXT’s system, improve train service, operate trains more efficiently, realize cost savings, and improve utilization of equipment.”
CSX expects negotiations, which will begin in March, to take several months. The railroad previously reached similar systemwide agreements covering locomotive engineers and train dispatchers.
Under the current system, crew changes must occur at terminals that sit on the boundary between regions, including Evansville, Ind.; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Cincinnati; Richmond, Va.; Huntington, W.Va.; and in the Chicago terminal.
A systemwide contract agreement with SMART-TD would allow trains to run through those terminals without stopping to change crews.
For example, steel ingot unit trains that originate in Russell, Ky., on the former Chesapeake & Ohio bound for a receiver in Middletown, Ohio, currently must change crews in Cincinnati, even though Middletown is only 25 miles from Cincy.
“With coordination, these unit trains can be operated between Russell and Middletown without a crew change in Cincinnati,” CSX said in a notice to conductors.
A systemwide contract also would permit road freight crews to swap trains en route so that they can return to their home terminals each day, rather than heading to a hotel at the end of their run.
“At various locations, there will be less yard congestion and additional meet and turn and relief service opportunities with the ability to operate in any direction out of a terminal or supply point,” CSX told conductors. “There will be less yard congestion, for example, because trains will not have to wait in yards for crew changes. In addition there will be less yard congestion because where there are crew changes, there will be less delay in re-crewing.”
A shift to a consolidated contract would result in the elimination of 67 trainmen positions, CSX says. But no employees would be furloughed. “Additional positions will be available due to attrition, improved business opportunities and anticipated increased business volumes, and the filling of vacant positions,” the railroad said.
SMART-TD declined to comment on the CSX proposal.
About time. Crew districts are a relic from the days of steam locomotives. The current business environment demands efficiency – this one’s a no-brainer.