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News Wire: Report: CSX hired Hunter

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 2:38 PM

There are a lot of CSX shareholders that remember the last time an activist investment group came in and tried to force them to make changes a couple years ago.  They may not even let EHH take the reigns based on what happened then.  They are still trying to get that taste out of their mouths.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 1:56 PM

ATSFGuy
So the Investors just want money and don't give a damn about the railroad at all?

How terribly sad

Harrison isn't final until the shareholders vote.  I can guarantee it won't be unamiously in his favor.

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Posted by ATSFGuy on Wednesday, March 8, 2017 1:05 PM

So the Investors just want money and don't give a damn about the railroad at all?

How terribly sad

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 8:54 PM

ATSFGuy
The railroad wants someone like me to come in and fix it, not hurt it.

Yeah, but the investors (the short-term variety) want cash.  Who cares what kind of shape the railroad ends up in?

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Posted by ATSFGuy on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 6:05 PM

Hey this just in!!! Tell Harrison he is now Vice President and I'm the new Executive Director for CSX!!! Big Smile

The railroad wants someone like me to come in and fix it, not hurt it.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 4:58 PM

Look on the bright side, at least CSX doesn't have a steam program Hunter can shut down.

 

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Posted by rockymidlandrr on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 4:08 PM

BaltACD

 

 
rockymidlandrr
Murphy Siding
tree68
rockymidlandrr

Well, that's a waste of a driver and vehicle.  Can't the conductor just walk?   Bang Head

Or jog- they've got a precision schedule to meet. Mischief

Haha thats right.  Let me jog to the other end of a 5000ft track with all their safety gear and radio strapped to me. 

 

I believe jogging (running) is a violation of safety rules.

 

 

Oh yea thats right...  Still getting used to that conductor thing again.  Got settled in on the Engineer side for too long.  Whelp, back to walking to the other end again just to hook up the EOT due to their Layoffs.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 3:46 PM

rockymidlandrr
Murphy Siding
tree68
rockymidlandrr

Well, that's a waste of a driver and vehicle.  Can't the conductor just walk?   Bang Head

Or jog- they've got a precision schedule to meet. Mischief

Haha thats right.  Let me jog to the other end of a 5000ft track with all their safety gear and radio strapped to me. 

I believe jogging (running) is a violation of safety rules.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by rockymidlandrr on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 3:40 PM

Murphy Siding

 

 
tree68
 
rockymidlandrr
 Oh, did I mention the wait time just to get a ride?

 

Well, that's a waste of a driver and vehicle.  Can't the conductor just walk?   Bang Head

 

 

 

Or jog- they've got a precision schedule to meet. Mischief

 

 

 

Haha thats right.  Let me jog to the other end of a 5000ft track with all their safety gear and radio strapped to me.  

Still building the Rocky Midland RR Through, Over, and Around the Rockies
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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 3:08 PM

tree68
 
rockymidlandrr
 Oh, did I mention the wait time just to get a ride?

 

Well, that's a waste of a driver and vehicle.  Can't the conductor just walk?   Bang Head

 

Or jog- they've got a precision schedule to meet. Mischief

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 2:47 PM

rockymidlandrr
 Oh, did I mention the wait time just to get a ride?

Well, that's a waste of a driver and vehicle.  Can't the conductor just walk?   Bang Head

LarryWhistling
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Posted by kgbw49 on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 2:38 PM

Miningman, taking a cue from the DM&E, given the fact that it will be the Canadian Pacific area and the Eastern US that the combined railroad will serve, I will root for the Canadian Pacific & Eastern.

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Posted by LensCapOn on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 1:47 PM

Miningman

 

The only way to make it palatable to you fellow's ( Americans) is to ditch the "Canadian" part,

You mean the "C" in CSX isn't for "Canadian" now??*

 

 

 

 

 

*Shocked! Shocked to hear that. Smile

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Posted by rockymidlandrr on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 1:21 PM

Well this is what the current management gets for their decision making over the past few years.  

 

1.  Trying to resolve their lack of manpower situation by furloughing more manpower.  "No matter how many people we get rid of we still don't have enough to run our trains".  All this while hundreds are furloughed.  I've seen trains tied down in nearly every siding on a 100 mile piece of railroad waiting on a recrew to finish moving it.

2.  Dispatching trains on a 28 hour day instead of 24.  This takes this much longer for each of our customers to get their cars.  This also lengthens trains to insane levels.  Yes, lets run a 350 car manifests.

3.  These lengthened trains are being run without the track infrastructure in place.  Being doubled, tripled, and quadrupled out of yards, with times the originating crew getting the train ready and the recrew actually taking the train to its destination.  This situation only got worse when it was cold.

4.  Oh, found this out yesterday.  All southbound trains coming out of my yard have to remove their own ground air and hang the EOT on the north end.  Management has cut out the car inspectors, so now the conductor has to get a ride from the south to the north end to remove the air and connect the EOT.  Oh, did I mention the wait time just to get a ride?

 

Y'all want anymore?  I could keep going on?

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Posted by Brian Schmidt on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 1:09 PM

Can Harrison improve CSX Transportation?

Yes, analysts and industry insiders say, citing his success at Illinois Central, Canadian National, and Canadian Pacific

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/03/03-ehh-analysis

Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine

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Posted by Ulrich on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 1:05 PM

CP and CN have both invested heavily in infrastructure improvment over the years.. there's no slash and burn. I read the reports.. I see the trains that go through my town.. apart from the hidious graffitti that passes for art to some, the railroads look better now than before. The track certainly looks well maintained. New locomotives.. can't remember the last time I even saw an older SD40-2 or GP40-2.. Maybe the slash and burn is happening elsewhere, but in my neck of the woods things are looking pretty sharp. EHH is most of all an agent of change, and people generally hate change even if the change is positive..  

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Posted by Shadow the Cats owner on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 12:25 PM

The shareholders at CSX need to remember this NS goes almost everyplace that CSX does except in FL and someplaces in NY state.  If EHH drives away customers like his plan normally does over time NS will step into the void.  I can think of several that will not put up with his BS right off the top of my head.  Fed Ex UPS and JB Hunt Schiender and Swift.  They will move their containers or flat out put them back on the road if they have to make a point to get the Great EHH to listen to them.  He is going to be in for a wake up call when it comes to dealing with very large IM customers that demand Service and that the Mainlines be kept clear for their trains to get thru.  If he fails to deliver they will start to scream at him and will either switch to NS or move them on their own. 

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Posted by kgbw49 on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 12:03 PM

Page 4 of 32 of this presentation may be of interest.

http://cn.ca/-/media/Files/Investors/Presentations/CN-Investor-Presentation-en.pdf?la=en

Actually the whole presentation is informative.

The only odd thing is the photo of a weed-choked (grain sprouts, perhaps) section of track on the last page.

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Posted by cx500 on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 11:49 AM

The operating ratio is a useful measure, but the best measure is profitability, and that is not quite the same thing.  AB&C has a 60% OR with $100Million revenue, which brings $40M of "profit".   XY&Z superficially seems worse with an OR of 65%, but by providing better service gets more customers and now has $120M revenue and $42M "profit".

When EHH was at CN he was able to slash and burn without a massive loss of business simply because CPR was so mismanaged it would not chase after or even accept unhappy shippers that wanted to switch.  The new regime at CN is quite different, and eagerly welcomes the shipper refugees from CPR.  CPR may, for the moment, still seem good but it has lost a lot of volume where it does not hold a monopoly on the traffic.  In the long term volume is absolutely necessary for sustainable financial results.

The challenge now for CPR is how to regain shippers that left "mad" and are quite content with their new service provider.  It will not be easy.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 10:27 AM

schlimm

For such a terrible CEO (according to all on here) he sure knows how to get the OR down to record lows, in the 3 1/2 years he has been the CEO. "OR fell to a record 58.6 percent for 2016."

Meanwhile, CSX improved its OR to 71.6%. It is ironic that those who put profitability über alles, are very inconsistent in their judgment of EHH.

BTW, from a non-corporatist perspective, EHH has been a horrible leader, going back to his IC days as I heard many times from an IC friend who worked there for years.

It is easy to make the OR look good if you don't care about anything else in the operation or the maintenance of the operation.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 9:54 AM

 

I've read about lots of railroads that got their numbers to look better by cutting everything to the bone and deferring maintenance. Usually that was in the realm of trying to sell the property and making it look really pretty to whoever was kicking the tires. Now it seems the same thing happens in the name of making the stock look good to those that don’t kick the tires too hard, in order for some group of investors to make some quick short term profits. It’s certainly not restricted to the railroad business.

 

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Posted by schlimm on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 8:22 AM

For such a terrible CEO (according to all on here) he sure knows how to get the OR down to record lows, in the 3 1/2 years he has been the CEO. "OR fell to a record 58.6 percent for 2016."

Meanwhile, CSX improved its OR to 71.6%. It is ironic that those who put profitability über alles, are very inconsistent in their judgment of EHH.

BTW, from a non-corporatist perspective, EHH has been a horrible leader, going back to his IC days as I heard many times from an IC friend who worked there for years.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 7:54 AM

Miningman
Yes ...that is the $ penalty from CP's non-competition clause ..if he goes to work for a competitor he has to pony up that much. If CSX wants him those are his terms...he sure as heck isn't going to pay the penalty. Wonder what this guys expense account terms are...strawberries and peeled grapes each morning served bedside?

Since he is Mantle Ridges choice - Mantle Ridge should be on the hook for any penalties - Not CSX and its shareholders.  And since when does 4.9% ownership control the company?

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Tuesday, March 7, 2017 7:03 AM

    I'm not sure what the current market rate on railroad CEO's is, but couldn't you buy half a dozen pretty good ones for $84 million?

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Posted by Miningman on Monday, March 6, 2017 11:42 PM

Yes ...that is the $ penalty from CP's non-competition clause ..if he goes to work for a competitor he has to pony up that much. If CSX wants him those are his terms...he sure as heck isn't going to pay the penalty. Wonder what this guys expense account terms are...strawberries and peeled grapes each morning served bedside? 

 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Monday, March 6, 2017 11:08 PM

BaltACD

 

 
Reuters

CSX said its board would also seek a shareholder vote at the 2017 annual meeting on the payment of $84 million in compensation and benefits forfeited by Harrison as a result of his separation from Canadian Pacific.

"Harrison has indicated that he will resign after the meeting if the reimbursement and tax indemnity are not provided," CSX said.

 

I know what my shareholder vote will be!

 

I'm not sure I understand this. Harrison wants CSX to pony up the $84 million he forfeited by leaving CP? And if he doesn't get the $84 million, he's leaving? 

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, March 6, 2017 10:56 PM

Reuters

CSX said its board would also seek a shareholder vote at the 2017 annual meeting on the payment of $84 million in compensation and benefits forfeited by Harrison as a result of his separation from Canadian Pacific.

"Harrison has indicated that he will resign after the meeting if the reimbursement and tax indemnity are not provided," CSX said.

I know what my shareholder vote will be!

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, March 6, 2017 9:45 PM

CPX?  Only have to change one letter...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by kgbw49 on Monday, March 6, 2017 9:39 PM

How about Atlantic, Plains & Pacific. They would have a built in tag line:

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