Railroad News

CSX yesterday announced first-quarter 2022 net earnings of $859 million, or 39 cents per share, compared to $706 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same period last year.

First-quarter operating income totaled $1.28 billion compared to $1.1 billion in the prior year. Revenue rose 21% to $3.41 billion, as an overall revenue-per-unit increase of 24% more than offset a 2% decline in volume, CSX officials said in a press release.

The Surface Transportation Board late last week approved CSX's application to acquire Pan Am Systems and its short-line subsidiaries, including Pan Am Railways Inc.

CSX officials expect to close on the acquisition on June 1. Pan Am owns rail lines and provides rail service on a freight-rail network in New England, from Maine in the north to the Boston region in the south, and west to near Albany, New York.

CSX yesterday acknowledged "strong support" for its proposed acquisition of Pan Am Railways Inc., as indicated by comments from businesses, elected officials and stakeholders in five New England states.

The remarks — which came from officials in the states of New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine —  are part of nearly 120 comments filed with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in support of the merger, CSX officials said in a press release.

CSX Executive Vice President Mark Wallace died Nov. 28 following a battle with cancer. He was 52.

Wallace had moved into a strategic advisory role in June while he underwent cancer treatment. He joined CSX in spring 2017 as EVP of corporate affairs and chief of staff, and later was named EVP of sales and marketing in July 2018. He also served a stint as EVP and chief administrative officer.

The Carolina Connector (CCX) intermodal terminal has officially opened for business northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina.

The facility, which is considered one of the most technologically advanced facilities on the CSX network, will help relieve port and highway congestion by adding rail-to-truck transfer capacity for domestic and international container shipments, CSX officials said in a press release.

CSX has taken multiple steps to improve service while facing substantial headwinds during the pandemic, President and CEO James Foote wrote last week in response to Surface Board Transportation Chairman Martin Oberman's October letter detailing a series of service complaints.

"Our customer solutions department has not seen a recent increase in service inquiries and we were not aware of informal complaints increasing to your public affairs office," Foote wrote Nov. 2 to Oberman. "We serve more than 5,000 customer facilities and to address issues we need to know certain key facts: when, where and which customer facility."

CSX yesterday recognized 71 customers with the Class I's annual Chemical Safety Excellence Award for their commitment to the safe transportation of hazardous materials.

Representing a wide range of industry segments — including chemicals, biofuels, waste and fertilizers — the award winners shipped a combined 238,000 carloads of hazard materials on the CSX network in 2020 without a non-accidental release due to controllable factors, according to a news release