April 4, 2014

Yet another winter storm – hopefully one of the last of the season – dumped 6-8 inches of snow on CSX Transportation lines between Cleveland and Buffalo last weekend, but gradual progress continued toward improved service levels. The impact to CSX operations from the most recent storm was minimal as temperatures warmed and remained above freezing for most of the week. We are now working through residual effects of the weather, combined with a surge in traffic.

• As weather warms, CSX and some of the other carriers are experiencing scattered issues with minor flooding and washouts, which are expected after such a long, harsh winter.
• Network fluidity and equipment availability continue to gradually improve, and CSX has filled more car orders in each of the last 3 weeks than in any week in the last 3 years.

System Overview. As weather continues to improve,  we expect the rate of operational improvement to accelerate. The condition of our processing yards continues to improve as we are seeing reduction in car dwell. Delays for locomotive availability, locomotive reliability and crew availability are decreasing but still have not returned to normal levels. Operations through the Chicago gateway remain fluid but not quite to normal levels, and interchange of rail cars remains current with most of the other carriers in Chicago.

 
Service Outlook. While we continue to expect consistent recovery over the upcoming months, there will be variance due to heavy and uneven demand as evidenced by the extremely high car order fill of the last 3 weeks. The recovery rate will continue to be uneven based on geographical location and backlogs of traffic and demand.
 
CSX employees remain dedicated to you, our customers, and to returning to the high levels of service as quickly as possible. We are intently focused on returning to superior operational performance in the second quarter.
 
As recovery continues, customers with questions about specific shipments can contact CSX Customer Service via www.shipcsx.com  or by calling 1-877-ShipCSX (1-877-744-7279) options 5, 6. Customers can also contact their customer service and/or local representative.