CSX Kenmore to face Mechanical Dept. cuts?

I saw this on Railpace. It affects Kenmore:

CSX TO STREAMLINE MECHANICAL OPERATIONS AT 16 LOCATIONS: As part of CSX’s (CSX) ongoing commitment to driving network improvement and resource efficiency to match demand, the company is streamlining operations at 16 lower-volume mechanical facilities. Operations will be reduced at car shops in Montgomery, Alabama; Washington, D.C.; Baldwin, Florida; Evansville and Indianapolis, Indiana; New Orleans, Louisiana; Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan; Wilmington, North Carolina; Kenmore, New York; Ashtabula, Ohio; Erie and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Florence, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Huntington, West Virginia. The streamlining is designed to better coordinate shop activities across the CSX network while maintaining inspection and maintenance performance levels. These changes will impact approximately 116 CSX mechanical employees, some of whom will be given opportunities to fill positions in other higher-demand areas of the network. CSX human resources personnel are working directly with affected employees to identify possible opportunities and assist in the transition. Train operations through the affected areas will continue as normal, and CSX will continue to deliver the high level of safety and service that customers and communities expect. ( CSX - posted 2/12)

Always interesting to read corporate propaganda. Speaks like a lawyer wrote it. "Streamlining operations" Oh, you mean eliminating jobs? "Changes" & "Affected Employees" yeah, that means firing people. Its like killing you softly, with carefully chosen words so from a PR standpoint it doesn't seem like a business issue or reflect negatively on the company. I wonder if they use those types of terms when the management or office positions are let go?

In other words, "times are tough so we're making cuts and laying people off." Shades of Orwell's "1984"!.

Well, no matter how much sugar they pour into the coffee, the bitter facts remain, somebody was bound to get out the choppin' axe. Maybe some of y'all weren't drinking enough coffee to stay keen to the issues with traffic levels across all sectors of business, widespread across the continent.

CSX has been patient. NS not so much.

But oil has dried up to a trickle and coal has nearly dropped to 25% of what it was 5 years ago. The slowing global economy combined with the re-election year cycle during the post holiday season has made for a rather drab outlook on rail traffic until (*hopefully*) late Spring. We can expect grain and fertilzer chemical traffic to rebound shortly.

The only long term promise for rail at this point is the new intermodal stack train corridors that will develop now that the Panama Canal allows the monster container ships to the Gulf ports and the East coast, rather than exclusively the West coast ports. My wisdom guided opinion anyways

The only long term promise for rail at this point is the new intermodal stack train corridors that will develop now that the Panama Canal allows the monster container ships to the Gulf ports and the East coast, rather than exclusively the West coast ports. My wisdom guided opinion anyways

I'm not well versed in the nuances of intermodal, but I was seeing a big negative for railroads in that expanded canal. Once a container is on the ship, it is incredibly cheap to keep it there. My admittedly outsider's view is that once ships are able to go from China through the canal and up the east coast, or across the Atlantic, the transcontinental intermodal trains will see a drastic drop-off. There may be incremental new business from east coast ports to the interior but overall it does not seem like a plus for the rails to me.

But I've been wrong before.

I'd say the biggest reason affecting Kenmore is the coal traffic. IIRC, NRG is slated to close, so there will be no more road trains (empty hoppers) originating there and no reason to have a car department and air plant on site. Kenmore outbound local traffic can get a transfer test to get to Frontier where it'll get attention in the outbound trains. With only the occasional hopper train originating out of Kenmore, I'm a bit surprised the Frontier car dept. didn't cover it already, but then again it's CSX.

Train Detainer wrote:I'd say the biggest reason affecting Kenmore is the coal traffic. IIRC, NRG is slated to close, so there will be no more road trains (empty hoppers) originating there and no reason to have a car department and air plant on site.

More collateral damage from the War On Coal.

BR&P wrote:

Train Detainer wrote:I'd say the biggest reason affecting Kenmore is the coal traffic. IIRC, NRG is slated to close, so there will be no more road trains (empty hoppers) originating there and no reason to have a car department and air plant on site.

More collateral damage from the War On Coal.

Thanks, Obama.

You realize it's worldwide? Britain's last mines have closed or are scheduled to close shortly. All the non-US rail magazines have articles covering other countries moving away from coal. It's not one person's fault.

BR&P wrote:

The only long term promise for rail at this point is the new intermodal stack train corridors that will develop now that the Panama Canal allows the monster container ships to the Gulf ports and the East coast, rather than exclusively the West coast ports. My wisdom guided opinion anyways

I'm not well versed in the nuances of intermodal, but I was seeing a big negative for railroads in that expanded canal. Once a container is on the ship, it is incredibly cheap to keep it there. My admittedly outsider's view is that once ships are able to go from China through the canal and up the east coast, or across the Atlantic, the transcontinental intermodal trains will see a drastic drop-off. There may be incremental new business from east coast ports to the interior but overall it does not seem like a plus for the rails to me.

Correct. It is a negative for cross country railroads (BNSF & UP), but it may put an additional train or two of containers through NY state, coming from the East Coast ports to the interior markets. I'm thinking about Toronto, Detroit & even Chicago. Those cities are closer to Philly, Baltimore, or Newark than Seattle or LA. Alot of that landbridge traffic will now probably flow through Western NY. Last I knew these Mega container ships can't go down the St Lawrence seaway, yet. I am posting in a NY State forum I do believe, where I was born, raised, & educated.

nydepot wrote:You realize it's worldwide? Britain's last mines have closed or are scheduled to close shortly. All the non-US magazines have articles covering other countries moving away from coal. It's not one person's fault.

I did not realize Britain is following suit with O'Bama. Mother Earth thanks O'Bama and Great Britain.

nydepot wrote:You realize it's worldwide? Britain's last mines have closed or are scheduled to close shortly. All the non-US rail magazines have articles covering other countries moving away from coal. It's not one person's fault.

I agree it's not just one person. But globally, coal is NOT dead. I believe I read that India will triple its coal consumption over the next...decade perhaps? Sorry, I don't have the exact article but the concept is valid.

Ignorance and hysteria have combined to hurt our economy, including the railroads. I agree we should not burn our old tires in the back yard nor dump our old motor oil in the creek. But overall our nation's skies are exponentially cleaner than say 1900, when almost everyone heated with coal, industry belched smoke with no regulations etc. Today's regulations have led to scrubbers, catalysts and other measures which have significantly reduced emissions.

Obama, Cuomo and others who advocate a complete end to coal use are trying to fix a problem which just does not exist. At the same time, markets in other parts of the world do exist. Not only does a "war on coal" hurt the miners, but the railroads, shipping industry, and countless other secondary jobs in the communities where coal is mined and transported.

There should be a middle ground between the old days of unchecked pollution and a concerted effort to cripple an industry (and related industries) based on a theory which - contrary to what some say - NOT all scientists agree is valid.

BR&P wrote:

nydepot wrote:You realize it's worldwide? Britain's last mines have closed or are scheduled to close shortly. All the non-US rail magazines have articles covering other countries moving away from coal. It's not one person's fault.

I believe I read that India will triple its coal consumption over the next...decade perhaps?

....overall our nation's skies are exponentially cleaner than say 1900, when almost everyone heated with coal, industry belched smoke with no regulations etc. Today's regulations have led to scrubbers, catalysts and other measures which have significantly reduced emissions.

Obama, Cuomo and others who advocate a complete end to coal use are trying to fix a problem which just does not exist. At the same time, markets in other parts of the world do exist. Not only does a "war on coal" hurt the miners, but the railroads, shipping industry, and countless other secondary jobs in the communities where coal is mined and transported.

There should be a middle ground between the old days of unchecked pollution and a concerted effort to cripple an industry (and related industries) based on a theory which - contrary to what some say - NOT all scientists agree is valid.

Very well stated BR&P... I couldn't have said it any better.

India is using more coal because it is the only resource it has. They have very limited natural gas. Its use is expected to double. They also have plenty in the north region so there is no need to import. Articles I've read, including rail-based articles, don't begrudge them for using coal. It is all they have.

Globally coal is down, including the top user, China, which used 6% less last year. All countries have decreased their coal usage except India and Australia.

Our NY coal-fired plants are mostly converting to natural gas, which we have plenty of. Why should it matter if a plant is using coal or NG if it's something we are not importing? Just because a railroad hauled it?

+1!
I was reading about the United States electric power plants the other day.

43% of our base load plants are coal fired and they are facing imminent shuttering due to impossible to meet EPA regulations.

The natural gas "peaker" plants that we have were never designed to operate as base load.

In addition quite a few Nuclear plants are also facing shutdowns due to nonrenewal of their 25 year operating licenses.
Cuomo would like to see the remaining New York State nuclear plants shutdown.

Bob