Eastern Railroad Discussion > Precision Railroading (CSX) vs NS Question

Good Morning:

Now that CSXT has implemented Precision Scheduled Railroading, how does their scheduling for a car moving in manifest service compare to NS between Chicago and Baltimore, for example? NS has more yards, but CSXT (from what I understand) send most Mid-Atlantic traffic through Selkirk, thereby switching traffic only one time enroute. Any ideas? Has CSXT cut several days out of transit time vs NS?

Thank you in advance.

I will be very interested in who the replies are from as it relates to this question.
There are some who actually know, and some who think they know the answer to this question!!!

Phil Maton
Villa Rica, GA

I wouldn't know how we compare to NS, because I don't really know how NS processes cars enroute. And so far as what I know about us...I only know what I see....I pull cars from Industry...bring them to yard...they get picked up and taken forward until they are either at destination or have to be put on another train to reach destination. We are a spaghetti road remember....cars originate here a well as wander around here. You can't run this road like a bridge line because it's not. You can minimize unnecessary enroute switching but you have to switch some cars several times to get them pointed the right direction. It's the nature of the beast.

I wouldn’t believe any figures from either railroad.
Talk with the customer is the key. Railroads haven’t figured this out so far.

Posted from iPhone

"Precision Scheduled Railroading" in itself is a huge oxymoron. If you have to come up with a cute slogan for your service (or lack thereof), then you are clearly losing. Outstanding service sells itself.

Posted from Android

I do not know. or even think I know the answer. I do not have current freight schedules for any RR. All I can pass on is what I observe, and agree with the last above four posts. I do know and heard from a source with some access that one or two carload freights have been put back on the Sand Patch shorter mainline. One I hear says they come from Avon. Cumberland hump is still closed. From what I see here in DE UP traffic is still flowing from the west over gateways to south of Richmond via Selkirk. But when I see q415/416 which usually pass the Ashland railcam those trains are much longer but the few RR marked cars are BNSF. Now, if CSX is routing traffic between the same O-D pairs via Selkirk for one Western RR and via closed Cumberland for the other I would think that would come to a service/rate crises at some point. The late EHH's precision schedule railroading which has every train operating every day between O-D pairs does have it anomalies. Today's Q371 arrived with only NINE cars. Last Friday it was 174. There are never many cars for a Tue train because all the industry in the Philly are and south Jersey take one or two yard jobs or locals to get to origin road trains' and nobody ships on Sunday. I can tell you Cryo-Trans big Reefers, as well as some ARMN, come into Wilsmere (mostly from the Lansdale, PA area) and then go north to Oak Island or Selkirk, not directly west to Cumberland. Remember, in the ancient URCS costing system, shorter is cheaper