WASHINGTON — Waste shippers have complained to federal regulators regarding deteriorating service on CSX Transportation in the Northeast.
The National Waste & Recycling Association, a trade group representing 70% of the private sector’s waste and recycling market, told the Surface Transportation Board that its members prefer to reach commercial solutions with their rail carriers.
“However, the service issues that our member companies are raising indicate that the problem is a network problem affecting the entire northeast region of the country. For example, in Boston, NWRA members are unable to load rail cars due to ongoing service issues involving the delivery of rail cars. In the meantime, railcars loaded with waste are waiting to be moved out by the railroad. Another example, in Connecticut and New York, rail operations are being negatively impacted due to the excessive backlog of cars waiting to switch at CSX’s Selkirk Yard in Albany, N.Y.,” the group’s CEO, Darrell K. Smith, wrote in a Sept. 1 letter to the STB.
Other waste and recycling shippers are dealing with missed switches, longer transit times, unfilled car orders, and an inability to reach CSX customer service and operations employees, Smith says.
“All of these issues are serious service failures and the situation is growing more tenuous each day,” Smith wrote. He asked the STB to intervene.
CSX has been experiencing train crew shortages in the Northeast and particularly along the former Water Level Route in New York. In a system notice issued Tuesday, Sept. 6, CSX notified engineers and other employees that no personal leave days will be permitted in Selkirk, Syracuse, and Buffalo, N.Y., from Sept. 9 through Sept. 19.
“CSX is engaged with the NWRA regarding the concerns expressed in their letter to the STB and had a productive call with them last week to hear about specific issues and to share what we are doing to address the challenges and provide improved service,” spokeswoman Cindy Schild says.
“Crew shortages have been the root cause of the service issues experienced in certain regions of CSX’s network, including Selkirk where we have seen an unusual surge in vacation entitlements,” she adds. “The staffing shortages in Selkirk should ease now that we are past the Labor Day weekend; however, we took the proactive step of sending a number of temporary relocations to provide additional support which has helped the situation there. CSX has also modified how waste traffic is blocked in order to enhance service for those shippers at Selkirk.”
The railroad expects the changes to improve service through Selkirk as the month progresses.
CSX has said it is continuing to hire and is sending temporary transfers to Selkirk to pitch in, including 10 train and engine crews who arrived last week and another 10 scheduled to arrive this week. The railroad says seven newly hired conductors are training in Selkirk, with three more in classroom training, and 17 additional people scheduled to begin conductor classes soon.
Union officials and CSX personnel say train crews continue to quit in Selkirk, however, with several leaving this month.
The average amount of time freight cars spend at Selkirk has risen 58% over the past five weeks. Terminal dwell at Selkirk went from 32.6 hours at the end of July to 51.6 hours in the week ending Aug. 26, the latest data CSX has reported to the STB. The average dwell at the hump yard was 47.65 hours for August, compared to 21.6 hours in August 2021.
A combination of layoffs, crew shortages, changes to remote-control switching jobs, and CSX’s takeover of New England regional Pan Am Railways has created congestion at Selkirk, SMART-TD Local Chairman Joshua Therrien wrote in an Aug. 22 letter to STB Chairman Martin J. Oberman.
CSX reduced remote-control switching jobs from two-person crews to one person on Aug. 9. “Since then, Selkirk employees have been harassed, intimidated, and bullied into accomplishing more work with half of the crew,” he wrote.
But Jamie Boychuk, CSX’s executive vice president of operations, told Oberman in a Sept. 1 letter that the remote control switching operation complies with Federal Railroad Administration regulations and standard industry practices, including at other CSX yards.
“I would like to underscore the importance of employee safety and regulatory compliance. CSX takes allegations of harassment and intimidation with the utmost seriousness, and we do not tolerate retaliatory behavior,” Boychuk wrote. “Employees are encouraged to report any such behavior and have numerous ways to do so, including anonymously. But as it relates to the new RCO switching procedures, CSX has not increased work hours beyond permissible limits.”
“I personally visited Selkirk yard over the course of three days this week,” Boychuk wrote. “I walked the ballast line with employees, reviewed switching processes, and talked through the operations with both union and non-union employees. It was a great interaction with our employees and I am proud of the way they have risen to the occasion. Everyone is working together to expedite the recovery process and I would like to assure the Board that we have the right plan in place to get it done.”
The single-person, remote-control operations should help boost crew availability and improve service, Boychuk wrote.
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