JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation CEO E. Hunter Harrison, the influential and innovative railroader who was respected, sought-after, feared, and loathed in equal measures, died today. He was 73. Harrison worked his way up through the ran...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/12/16-csx-ceo-hunter-harrison-has-died
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
Brian Schmidt JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – CSX Transportation CEO E. Hunter Harrison, the influential and innovative railroader who was respected, sought-after, feared, and loathed in equal measures, died today. He was 73. Harrison worked his way up through the ran... http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2017/12/16-csx-ceo-hunter-harrison-has-died
cprtrainCSX shareholders are on the hook for $$$$.
Hopefully they had not already written the $84,000,000 Check.
Norm
I'm glad that a few contributors have mentioned the many families affected by EHH during his career; his "success" came at the expense of countless others, and to what effect? What will be remembered fifty years from now of his tenure at CSX and the other railroads? What did he build? How will he be remembered? What's a man's reputation worth?
"The evil men that do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones;"
Julius Caesar, Act 3, scene2.
Norm48327 cprtrain CSX shareholders are on the hook for $$$$. Hopefully they had not already written the $84,000,000 Check.
cprtrain CSX shareholders are on the hook for $$$$.
I am certain the money has long departed the CSX Treasury! Remember his and Mantle Ridge's purpose is, was and will continue to be to suck as much money out of CSX in as short a period of time as possible.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
I hate to say it but I knew CSX would be his last and he would not make it to see all his reforms put in place due to push back. Next question is, who will rescue CSX? or do we watch it take the Penn Central path. Remember that EHH was brought in out of desperation of a culture in analysis paralysis and very slow to change if change happened at all.
Waiting to see Paul Hilal's next move other than getting seriously drunk tonight.
CMStPnP Remember that EHH was brought in out of desperation of a culture in analysis paralysis and very slow to change if change happened at all.
I suspect that many feel that EHH was not "brought in" but rather forced his way in, at the behest of his handlers.
That's not to say that CSX was perfect, but they weren't doing all that badly. The question now is whether the changes already wrought will remain in place, or if cooler heads will prevail.
If his successor continues as a puppet for Mantle Ridge, et al, I'm not optomistic.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
A cynic would like to know how much trading of the stock happened in the last month. Especially insider selling in the last week or two days ? Strange death announced on a Saturday after stock markets closed ?
As The Ghost of Christmas Future said "Change your ways Mr. Scrooge before it is too late."
CMStPnPI hate to say it but I knew CSX would be his last and he would not make it to see all his reforms put in place due to push back. Next question is, who will rescue CSX? or do we watch it take the Penn Central path. Remember that EHH was brought in out of desperation of a culture in analysis paralysis and very slow to change if change happened at all.
BS !!!!!!!!!
Up to March 1, 2017 the CSX 'motto' was 'It starts with the Customer'.
After that date it became 'It starts with Mantle Ridge looting the treasury'.
He was a great railroader, and his results over the years speak for themselves. RIP, Hunter..
Hunter's dead.
Moving on...
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
I would say "no loss" but the people without jobs that some devoted most of a life to and the customers without service would disagree....
blue streak 1 A cynic would like to know how much trading of the stock happened in the last month. Especially insider selling in the last week or two days ? Strange death announced on a Saturday after stock markets closed ?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Very well said greyhounds.
Doubtless he'll get exactly what he deserves.
I remember reading an interview with him earlier this year in which he said he clientele t to begin the job for long. I doubt he knew this would happen, or that it would be so soon. Then again, if he knew at the time he was hired that he had a terminal illness that his money men also knew about, would that mean Hillal and Harrison acted to defraud CSX and its investors, or was it simply bad luck? Either way, I hope this doesn't sink CSX.
Uncle_Bob I remember reading an interview with him earlier this year in which he said he clientele t to begin the job for long. I doubt he knew this would happen, or that it would be so soon. Then again, if he knew at the time he was hired that he had a terminal illness that his money men also knew about, would that mean Hillal and Harrison acted to defraud CSX and its investors, or was it simply bad luck? Either way, I hope this doesn't sink CSX.
CSX can't sink they have achieved the "too big to fail" status. it's time that any such be subject to share limits, executive pay limits, and employee screwover limits. We are looking at th tip of an iceberg here. It is your money keeping them afloat. Oh well, bless your hearts.
A plea to commentators on Hunter Harrison:
E. Hunter Harrison's methods and aims may excite controversy. He was not however 'evil' - if you want to know what evil business people are like think of Russia in the 1990s, when 'biznismen' routinely hired hitmen to eliminate competition; or think of the narco barons of Latin America. Hunter Harrison was a controversial figure in the railroad business - he was not a Pablo Escobar.
Please bear that in mind when commenting on his recent demise - members of Harrison's family may well read the comments in Trains and be very upset by them.
IslandManA plea to commentators on Hunter Harrison: E. Hunter Harrison's methods and aims may excite controversy. He was not however 'evil' - if you want to know what evil business people are like think of Russia in the 1990s, when 'biznismen' routinely hired hitmen to eliminate competition; or think of the narco barons of Latin America. Hunter Harrison was a controversial figure in the railroad business - he was not a Pablo Escobar. Please bear that in mind when commenting on his recent demise - members of Harrison's family may well read the comments in Trains and be very upset by them.
With due respect to the family - while they may have loved him, a great many people viewed him as the devil incarnate. The family deserve to know how others viewed him. When you negatively affect the thousands of lives that EHH affected that can not be glossed over, even in death.
Let me tell you from experience of someone whose Father worked at a Unionized Firm as an executive. The Family has heard most of the comments already. The extreme and emotion based comments are are filed away never to be thought about again. The more moderate comments are looked at as a matter of opinion. Not much of an impact. And as anti-Union as it sounds, Unionized firms come up with some really ridiculous stuff to maintain the "us vs. them" atmosphere that the Union heads prefer to keep support up for the Union.
The only thing that I have witnessed that really bothers a family of a deceased in a time like this would be for example...... that unusually stupid rumor started by someone (forget if it was a writer or reader) that the C&NW business car was haunted by a certain former C&NW CEO. Something like that would and did cause a direct rebuke from the family as it implies certain things on the religious front for some that the wife decided went too far.
BaltACDBS !!!!!!!!! Up to March 1, 2017 the CSX 'motto' was 'It starts with the Customer'. After that date it became 'It starts with Mantle Ridge looting the treasury'.
I'm not arguing that customer service was better prior to EHH because the employees are in control of that. Was the drop off in customer service due to EHH or employee resistance to EHH, it could be either or and I have no clue which. However, one thing is still true that was true before EHH's arrival. CSX as a company is not completely fixed, the job was not complete before EHH's passing and CSX was slowly declining financially as well as stagnating operationally (while NS improved relative to CSX, NS was declining to an extent as well). You can blame the drop-off in coal in part but not all of it was caused by a drop off in coal. An example, look how long it took for CSX to develop a capital program to improve clearances across the railroad to handle intermodal double stack trains. C'mon, it's like 15-20 years after the other Class I railroads budgeted for it and executed on it. What does that tell you about CSX management or attention to markets prior to EHH?
He was controversial for sure, but certainly not evil. One of his strengths was making sure he had good people in place who could take over on short notice if needed. CSX remains in good hands.
Ulrich He was controversial for sure, but certainly not evil. One of his strengths was making sure he had good people in place who could take over on short notice if needed. CSX remains in good hands.
I hope you are right. I hope that James Foote and company will recognize Hunter's mistakes and fix them. I hope that they have a proper attitude towards customer service. Time will tell, I guess.
Los Angeles Rams Guyspecial place in hell for this guy
Russell
CMStPnP BaltACD BS !!!!!!!!! Up to March 1, 2017 the CSX 'motto' was 'It starts with the Customer'. After that date it became 'It starts with Mantle Ridge looting the treasury'. I'm not arguing that customer service was better prior to EHH because the employees are in control of that. Was the drop off in customer service due to EHH or employee resistance to EHH, it could be either or and I have no clue which. However, one thing is still true that was true before EHH's arrival. CSX as a company is not completely fixed, the job was not complete before EHH's passing and CSX was slowly declining financially as well as stagnating operationally (while NS improved relative to CSX, NS was declining to an extent as well). You can blame the drop-off in coal in part but not all of it was caused by a drop off in coal. An example, look how long it took for CSX to develop a capital program to improve clearances across the railroad to handle intermodal double stack trains. C'mon, it's like 15-20 years after the other Class I railroads budgeted for it and executed on it. What does that tell you about CSX management or attention to markets prior to EHH?
BaltACD BS !!!!!!!!! Up to March 1, 2017 the CSX 'motto' was 'It starts with the Customer'. After that date it became 'It starts with Mantle Ridge looting the treasury'.
Au contraire - the clearance program was initiated in the same time frame as it's competitior - NS. Virginia Avenue and Howard Street tunnels have required more capital intensive solutions and longer construction times than did any of the NS clearance impediments. EHH killed the Howard Street project which thereby makes the Port of Baltimore a single stack only port as NS/Amtrak don't have a double stack solution either.
CSX was working on enhancing it's intermodal operations until EHH's axe struck and knocked their offerings back to the 1960's level.
What that tells me that EHH was given marching orders by Mantle Ridge to liberate capital from CSX, regardless of the continued health and sustainability of the organism. Liberate the cash and do it now!
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