Cancellations involved intro-CSX moves between secondary terminal locations and those that fed the North Baltimore, Ohio, hub to build density for cargo interchanges with western railroads in Chicago.
Photo credit: Mark Szakonyi

CSX Transportation on Thursday expanded its discontinuation of domestic intermodal services to 327 origin and destination pairs in an overhaul to build cargo density amid peak season.

In a customer notice, the Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad said the last day to ingate cargo for 66 services will be Oct. 30, adding to the scores of services in which cut-off dates were Oct. 13, Oct. 20, and Oct 27. Intermodal market companies and third-party logistics providers are scrambling to speed delivery and reroute cargo.

“While CSX understands that every lane is important to some customers, services that are being canceled are generally on very low-density lanes that cannot be handled effectively under our new operating plan,” CSX spokesman Rob Doolittle told JOC.com. “On lanes that remain on our network, our goal is for our customers to receive a service experience that is better than the service CSX has provided previously.”

According to a fact sheet provided by CSX to customers and obtained by JOC.com, most of the cancellations “appear to involve intra-CSX moves between secondary terminal locations of the type that had been enabled by their hub-and-spoke strategy centered on Northwest Ohio,” said Larry Gross, president on Gross Transportation Consulting. Another group of cancellations involved those that fed the North Baltimore, Ohio, hub to build density for cargo interchanges with western railroads in Chicago.

The intermodal network overhaul comes amid a broad sweep of changes under the leadership of CSX CEO E. Hunter Harrison. In a leadership shake-up, the railroad said James Foote, who worked for Harrison at Canadian National Railway would join CSX as chief operations officer. Chief operating officer Cindy Samorn, chief market officer Fredrik Eliasson, and executive vice president of law and public affairs Ellen Fitzsimmons had resigned, CSX said.

CSX said it would reschedule its much-anticipated investors’ meeting, fueling even more speculation of how Harrison’s so-called precision railroading strategy would change network service amid reports of his ailing health. Carload shippers on Oct. 11 complained to US regulators that Harrison’s efforts to drive the company’s operating ratio down by thinning costs was delaying their cargo. At a Surface Transportation Board meeting Harrison apologized for service woes and promised that the worst was over and that a full service recovery was near.

CSX said it was moving fast on the changes to lessen the impact to customers and operations on other parts of its network. The railroad said it expects to deliver faster and more frequent intermodal service, and boost efficiency, through the changes.

Contact Mark Szakonyi at mark.szakonyi@ihsmarkit.com and follow him on Twitter: @szakonyi_joc. A list of the canceled and open routings is below. The lists are organized alphabetically by origin terminal and are searchable using the Ctrl + F function on your keyboard.