Despite only being appointed the CEO of CSX Railroad five months ago, Hunter Harrison has made drastic, and some would say destructive and dangerous, changes to railroad operations.
In an effort to improve the railroad’s bottom line he has eliminated layers of management and plans to close and downsize rail yards across the country.
Hump yards are currently on the chopping block because he believes they are inefficient and closing them would save the company $10 million. The ones that manage to stay open are being converted to flat switch yards.
A hump yard is used to sort trains. The cars are slowly pushed up an elevated rise. From there a crewmember disconnects the cars and they roll downhill into different tracks that sort them by destination. The speed on the downhill slope is controlled by devices called retarders. They mechanically slow the cars so they maintain a safe speed. Converting these yards to a flat switch yard means the employees will do more on the ground work to get the cars sorted.
A signal maintainer that currently works at a hump yard in Indiana said “One of the big problems is that management was actively being encouraged to disregard safety standards and being threatened with their jobs if dramatic changes didn’t occur. They increased the speeds of the cars that go down through the retarder. Normally those cars take 5 seconds but management said they should take 2 seconds to pass….there were more derailments than I have ever seen in this yard. I worked there for five years. If you are working in the yard, this is dangerous and if something were to happen there are only two ways in and out for emergency services. One of those entrances is constantly blocked by trains and the other often is as well.”
Another railroad worker said “Men are constantly being threatened with their jobs on the line. We are told to switch cars like back in the 1950’s when injury and fatality rates were high and it’s just a matter of time before we have a headline of injury or fatality. Men are getting cussed up one side and down the other, and shown no absolute professionalism in the least little way.”
Some of the most worrisome changes CSX has made recently include ending the three step protection, lifting the ban on getting on and off moving equipment, safety meetings are no longer being held at the start of shifts, the discontinuance of the brake stick, and the refusal to provide work boots and some safety equipment for employees. CSX is increasing the speed of work but appears to have no regard for the safety of its workers.
