CSX: What in the world happened?

Coming into 2017, CSX, like most class one railroads, were looking for a bright future. The election of Donald Trump would hopefully help bring back the coal business and help the railroads out. Things were looking up, and then a major curveball was thrown into the paths of the Jacksonville, FL railroads' employees, and the railfans.

On March 6, 2017, CSX named E. Hunter Harrison the new CEO of the railroad. He replaced Michael Ward, who had retired in February 2017. From an article posted on CSX's website, Harrison said that he was "...proud to join the dedicated and talented railroaders at CSX. Together, we will implement Precision Scheduling Railroading - a model proven to improve safety, create better service for customers, produce a proud and winning culture for employees, and generate exceptional, lasting value for shareholders."

Flash forward to May 15th, 2017 (the day this article was written). A lot has happened in a short two month span. On March 30th, Harrison closed their Osborn Yard hump near Louisville, KY. It was the third yard in two weeks, joining Stanley Yard in Toledo, OH on April 1st, 2017 (it was reopened two weeks later) and Tilford Yard in Atlanta, GA on March 22nd, 2017.

In mid-April, Harrison announced that the giant yard in Hamlet, NC was going to be closed as a hump yard, and, like the others, converted to flat switching.

On May 15th, it was announced that Selkirk Yard in Selkirk, NY, a suburb of Albany, would also be closing. This move came as a shock, as Selkirk was the largest yard that the New York Central had. To add to that, the yard is the meeting point of at least four or five subdivisions that CSX operates on. Reportedly, these jobs will possibly be moved to the Conrail Shared Assets Operations in Oak Island, NJ, Syracuse, NY, Rochester, NY, or Buffalo, NY. Selkirk will remain open as a flat switching yard, however.

So with the closure of these yards, this begs the question: What more will Harrison do? Will all CSX Hump Yards be closed (Waycross, Willard, Barr (Chicago))? We'll stay tuned on this story as it unfolds.