CSX

It happened again to Steve Beasley on Tuesday. For at least the 10th time this summer, the Maryland Rail Commuter train between his home in Laurel and his job in Washington was delayed.The minutes ticked by. Nearly an hour passed. He would be late for work again.It has been that way since June 1, when CSX Corp., owner of two of MARC's three rail lines, took over parts of the Conrail freight system. Freight traffic increased far beyond CSX's expectations and, in the competition for the rails, passenger trains have lost out.In June and July, 372 MARC trains were late, according to the Mass Transit Administration.

Proper dealing in port talksOver the years, critical rail capacity has been shifted from freight to commuter operations, and today [CSX's] ability to move high volume rail freight through Baltimore suffers as a result.CSX takes strong exception to Barry Rascovar's strident May 16 column concerning the Maersk/Sea-Land port decision, "With port double-cross, CSX shot itself in foot."The column showed scant regard for the facts and insulted the intelligence and impressive work of the Maryland officials involved in the port decision by suggesting they were merely dupes of CSX.State of Maryland and Port of Baltimore officials are to be highly commended for their efforts in making the Port of Baltimore a highly attractive option for a Maersk/Sea-Land megaterminal.

WASHINGTON -- Railroad tracks in and out of Baltimore must be significantly improved before the city can accommodate the huge marine terminal that two shipping lines are considering building in Dundalk, the top executive of the East Coast's largest railroad said yesterday.John W. Snow, chairman and chief executive officer of CSX Corp., said Baltimore's rail lines are too old and lack the clearance to move the 550,000 cargo containers a year that shipping giants Maersk Inc. and Sea-Land Service Inc. would bring to the city if they choose it for a new hub terminal.

IN Maryland's uphill battle to win a huge shipping contract from the Maersk/Sea-Land consortium, a key sticking point has become the position of CSX Transportation, the city's major rail carrier.It appears the railroad has nothing to gain and everything to lose if Baltimore becomes the consortium's new port of call.Here's the rub: The railroad's parent company, CSX, also owns Sea-Land. The conflicting interests of CSX's rail and shipping lines could deny the Port of Baltimore any chance to win this bidding war.Establishing a hub in Baltimore makes enormous sense for Maersk/Sea-Land.

BALTIMORE had the best offer on the table -- by far. But when it came time for a decision, it was the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that secured a 30-year contract for a container terminal that could ultimately handle $10 billion a year in maritime cargo.It should not have come as a surprise. The deck was stacked against Baltimore by CSX Corp., which owns a half-interest in the Maersk/Sea-Land Services steamship combine that was seeking a hub terminal capable of handling the next generation of container ships.

The owners of nearly 1,000 wooded acres on the industry-ringed Marley Neck Peninsula unveiled last night their joint plan to turn their property into 3,000 homes, a shopping center and a business park.About 40 people turned out for a meeting at Solley United Methodist Church to hear property owners Jane Nes and the CSX Corp. of Baltimore discuss their vision for Tanyard Springs and Tanyard Cove. The audience was a mix of supporters and doubters.After working for years on separate proposals, the two property owners decided last spring to collaborate.

WASHINGTON -- CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp.'s plan to divide Conrail Inc. got conditional approval yesterday from the U.S. Justice Department, which said CSX should allow Norfolk Southern to use its tracks in at least two markets to ensure competition.In a filing with the Surface Transportation Board, which must make a final decision on the transaction by July, the Justice Department said the split-up, without changes, would create a monopoly for coal transportation in parts of Maryland and Indiana.

The division of Conrail routes between CSX and Norfolk Southern may help a small, Carroll County-based railroad that has had its nose pressed to the window, watching the giants split the spoils.Federal rail regulators have approved a plan to divide Conrail Corp.'s routes between CSX Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., ending 22 years of a federally created rail monopoly in the Northeast and leaving the eastern United States with two major railroads.The Surface Transportation Board's approval of the division of Conrail lines may indirectly help Paul D. Denton, president of Maryland Midland Railway Co., in his quest for access to lucrative rail interchanges in Baltimore and Hagerstown.

To the delight of many Hampstead residents, Maryland Midland Railway Inc. has contributed $500 to the restoration of the town's historic train depot.In a letter April 24, Paul D. Denton, Maryland Midland's president and chief operations officer, promised to contribute more after Maryland Midland completes its purchase of the line that runs through Hampstead. CSX Transportation Inc. owns the line."When our offer to purchase that line becomes reality, we'll double the amount in the attached check, and I'll deliver the second one personally by riding to Hampstead in one of our locomotives," Denton wrote.

Over 15 years, residents along Baltimore's 26th Street have watched their sidewalk sink 6 feet as the earth has eroded around the railroad tracks that snake through their daily comings and goings.Iron rails and a concrete wall have collapsed, leaving gaping holes in the residents' protection from a 30-foot drop onto the CSX train tracks.Structural problems around the train track overpasses, which residents in the Harwood section of Charles Village have fought for years to have corrected, are believed to be among the worst in Baltimore's residential areas.

The stone bridge project left several laborers dead and injured, Patapsco River floods occasionally stopped the work and once a trestle collapsed, dropping granite loads into a millrace. The Thomas Viaduct was completed nonetheless and stands to this day, 174 years later - the country's oldest main line railroad span. Trains have gotten bigger, heavier and longer, but still they roll over the eight granite arches heading north and south with freight and MARC passengers, wheels squealing through the river valley.

When my colleague Peter Hermann oversaw The Sun's Watchdog feature, he reported on the hazard created by gaps in the fence around the railroad tracks at the south end of Charles Street in South Baltimore. With most Watchdog complaints, Hermann would end up calling government bureaucrats to report some incidence of broken or malfunctioning infrastructure. In most cases, he was able to rouse them to take quick action rather than deal with unfavorable publicity. But when he took on the South Baltimore fence problem two years ago, Hermann faced a much more formidable obstacle: the giant freight railroad CSX, which owned the crumbling fence that posed no significant barrier to those who thought the rail yard was a wonderful place to drink, ingest drugs or practice the world's oldest profession.

Expanding MARC train schedules is not as simple as it sounds. MTA Administrator Paul J. Wiedefeld can't just pick up the phone and tell officials at CSX Corp. and Amtrak how to run their railroads. The agency's growing MARC commuter rail service is a victim of its own success, and what's needed are short- and long-term solutions to overcrowding and delays. Long-term solutions the Maryland Transit Administration has (at least on the drawing board) - a proposal to invest several billions of dollars to add track and other infrastructure over the next two decades or more.

Spurred by a Nov. 24 derailment near Camden Yards, Maryland and CSX Transportation completed an agreement yesterday under which security officials will be given real-time access to information about hazardous cargoes moving through the state on freight trains. The agreement "will allow Maryland security and law enforcement officials to independently track the location of [CSX] trains and the contents of rail cars being handled by [CSX] trains across the state," said a railroad spokesman, Bob Sullivan.

Freight traffic resumed yesterday, a day after the derailment of a dozen CSX cars downtown, and MARC trains are expected to run on schedule today as nearly 30,000 rail commuters return to work. Federal rail authorities are investigating the accident, in which 12 train cars tumbled off the tracks in the 300 block of Stockholm St. near M&T Bank Stadium. Three of the cars were carrying hazardous materials, but no leaks or injuries were reported. A final report could take several months. Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon said yesterday that she would urge CSX to limit rail traffic during events at M&T Bank Stadium and Camden Yards.

A collision between a train and a car at a Rosedale railroad crossing last night left at least one person critically injured, a Baltimore County fire official said. Officials did not release any names last night but said at least one injured person was transported by helicopter to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in critical condition. The accident occurred about 6:40 p.m. where Schafers Lane intersects with railroad tracks east of Pulaski Highway. Police did not have any additional information because CSX authorities were taking the lead in investigating the crash.

After months of pressure and negotiations, railroad conglomerate CSX will pay three-quarters of the cost of replacing two of the city's most dangerous bridges, Baltimore officials announced yesterday. And no one's happier than the Locust Point grandmother known as "The Bridge Lady," who warned this summer that she was ready to stand naked with a sign to get something done about the crumbling bridge near her home. The move comes more than two months after the collapse of an interstate highway bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis sparked second-guessing nationwide over the safety of bridges spanning roads, waterways and railroad tracks.

Mayor Sheila Dixon and city and state lawmakers demanded yesterday that railroad conglomerate CSX fix its crumbling bridges in Baltimore before it's too late. Voicing support for a Locust Point grandmother who has been trying for nearly a decade to get a bridge near her home repaired, Dixon called the condition of the Fort Avenue bridge a "top priority," while state lawmakers appealed to the governor and Maryland's transportation secretary to throw their weight into the effort. CSX owns the Locust Point bridge that leads to Fort McHenry, as well as four other "structurally deficient" bridges in Baltimore.

The Maryland Department of Transportation's State Highway Administration is beginning a $710,000 project to resurface about one-half mile along U.S. 1 (Washington Boulevard), from the CSX Railroad overpass to north of Gatewood Drive, near Jessup. Single-lane closures along U.S. 1 will occur between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays. Arrow panels, drums, cones and barrels will guide motorists through the work zone. Delays should also be expected along Interstate 95 and U.S. 1 as a result of a $15 million safety and resurfacing project under way at night along I-95 between Routes 32 and 100. The U.S. 1 project is to be completed by the end of June, if weather conditions are favorable.

THE PROBLEM -- There is a large hole in a fence designed to prevent people from reaching the CSX railroad tracks in South Baltimore. THE BACKSTORY -- It appears that an entire panel is missing or has been cut out from a chain-link fence at the end of South Charles Street, near Wells Street. The fence is behind several businesses in a trash-strewn yard. The hole is big enough for people to walk into a railroad right of way along the tracks, which could be dangerous. Marci DeVries, president of the South Baltimore Improvement Committee, said the neighborhood association has contacted CSX three or four times in the past year over maintenance issues, including problems with the fence.