CEO: Safety a focus for CSX
Written by Railway Age Staff
CSX President and CEO Jim Foote.
After a year hyper-focused on improving efficiency, CSX plans to put more resources into safety.
Chief Executive James Foote told the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Jacksonville May 18 said that after a number of incidents, “I thought we needed help.”
Foote, leading his first shareholders meeting since taking over after the death of Hunter Harrison in December, said that the carrier in the coming weeks will name a Chief Safety Officer and also hire a consultant to help work on safety.
Foote wants “fresh eyes” on safety, and said his top concern was that “someone’s going to get killed.”
In February two Amtrak crewmen died after the Silver Star ran through a misaligned switch and collided head-on with a tied-down CSX freight train.
CSX had 1.11 reportable injuries for 200,000 man-hours in the first quarter, third-lowest among the seven Class I railroads but up from 0.97 from the same quarter in 2017.
“That is unacceptable and we will get better,” he said.
The first-quarter operating ratio of 63.7% was the best among the seven Class I railroads, and Foote said the company is targeting 60% by 2020.
Another 6,200 jobs are to be eliminated by the end of 2020, for total employment of 21,000. CSX cut 4,600 positions, including consultants, in 2017.
