CSX Rules Out Sale of Former Boston & Albany Line

SOURCE:  Times Union - Friday, January 26, 2018 

CSX Transportation, responding to a report earlier this week from trade publication trains.com, said Friday afternoon that a list of lines under review for possible sale was "inaccurate." The list included the former Boston & Albany line between Albany and Worcester, Mass., now operated by CSX.

"I can definitively say that this line is not for sale," a CSX spokesman told the Times Union. The trains.com report had led to speculation about potential purchasers and the continued operation of Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited over the line.

CSX has undertaken a review of its network "to be sure our assets are maximized for efficiency and add value to the company's long-term business needs," the spokesman said. But he added that the list published by trains.com "did not originate from anyone authorized to speak on behalf of the company and is not right."

CSX operates a major rail yard and auto distribution terminal in Selkirk. It had planned to close its hump yard there, used to sort individual rail cars into new trains, as it sought to reduce transit times, then Chief Operating Officer Cindy Sanborn told analysts at an investment conference last May.

Sanborn was replaced by James Foote as COO last autumn. Foote became CEO, succeeding E. Hunter Harrison, who was in the midst of rolling out his "precision scheduled railroading" concept at CSX, died in December.

Meanwhile, CSX  reversed course and the Selkirk hump operation remains.

Last autumn, CSX planned to consolidate train dispatching operations in Jacksonville, Fla., where the railroad is headquartered. But that move apparently has been delayed.

Foote plans to continue Harrison's efforts, which include precision railroading where trains operate on set schedules. Foote told regulators at the beginning of January that assets are better utilized, transit times and customer service have improved, and costs have been reduced.