CSX requires substantive passenger rail plan in Tampa Bay before official talks can occur

CSX requires substantive passenger rail plan in Tampa Bay before official talks can occur (Courtesy of the Jacksonville Business Journal) — A representative from CSX Corp. told Tampa Bay’s top transportation leaders last week that the freight rail company is willing to listen to passenger rail plans if they materialize.

However, negotiations for shared use of local CSX-owned tracks would be “premature” at this time without an actual plan in place, said regional VP of Government Affairs Craig Camuso.

Funding for operating a passenger rail system is essentially non-existent right now — one barrier among several preventing progress. Money for operations must come from local governments, barring any change in law.

Even if negotiations were to take place, that doesn’t mean CSX’s response will be “what you want to hear,” Camuso said.

“I will tell you — this area is growing,” Camuso said. “What our folks do say right now is it would be tough for something like passenger rail to happen even on some of those lines that we had talked about several years ago because we do see industrial opportunities in those areas. However, we don’t want to sit here and shut the door completely.”

CSX Corp. used to run freight trains along North Franklin Street prior to the closure of Ardent Mills in downtown Tampa.

Jacksonville-based CSX offered to sell its Brooksville and Clearwater lines in 2015. The former connects downtown Tampa to Brooksville on a north-south corridor; the latter connects downtown St. Petersburg to downtown Clearwater to Oldsmar before running past Tampa International Airport and ending in Ybor City.

Nothing substantive has happened since except for a 2018 study conducted by the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transit Authority that pinpointed Interstate 275 as the corridor most ripe for a transit connection. Connecting downtown Tampa to the University of South Florida via the Brooksville rail line was the second most feasible option at the time.

What CSX wants to hear

CSX (Nasdaq: CSX) has four requirements it must see from any local passenger rail plan: safety, capacity, adequate funding and indemnification. Contractual indemnification is a policy that would grant CSX immunity from lawsuits regarding accidents on the line. Without indemnification, Camuso said Orlando’s SunRail couldn’t have commenced service.

Besides SunRail, there is another example of CSX selling its track to make way for passenger rail service in Florida: Tri Rail, which connects Miami to West Palm Beach. CSX sold that line to the Florida Department of Transportation in 1988 while maintaining freight service there. The prevalence of single-line tracks in Tampa Bay and across the Southeast complicates matters, Camuso said.

“It makes it a little more challenging for commuter rail to exist,” Camuso said. “When I first started with CSX, Tri Rail was a disaster. It was an absolute disaster. Then they added an extra track … and we were able to move those freight trains.”

Camuso reminded TBARTA board members that CSX and Amtrak are “at war” over the Gulf Coast corridor connecting Mobile, Alabama, and New Orleans, most of which is single track. Amtrak wants to restore passenger service there 17 years after Hurricane Katrina ended it; CSX is opposed to the possibility of two daily round trips occurring on what it describes as a busy freight track.

In Tampa Bay, Camuso said it can sometimes be challenging to know which agency to talk with amid “an alphabet soup” of transportation organizations. Hillsborough County Commissioner Kimberly Overman said CSX should be more active in discussions to avoid misunderstandings.

“‘Who’s in charge?’ is one of our questions,” Camuso said.

CSX’s vision for freight movement in Tampa Bay

The Tampa Bay area is important to CSX, Camuso said. Joseph Hinrichs, hired away from Ford Motor Co. last month to become CSX’s CEO, has already visited the region, Camuso said.

Joe Hinrichs, former EVP and president at the Ford Motor Company, is now at Jacksonville-based CSX Corp. He made the rare move from outside the railroad business into the CEO position at a Class I railroad company in September 2022.

In addition, about a dozen CSX employees met with customers and potential customers at Port Tampa Bay about two weeks ago for “a major sales blitz,” Camuso said. CSX is looking for new opportunities to move more freight from Florida, Camuso said. That could help the state veer away from its status as a net importer.

In a statement, a spokesperson from Port Tampa Bay said there are over 300 acres of industrially zoned property with deep water, rail and highway access available for leasing.

“We share CSX’s enthusiasm to expand existing and future customers’ port/rail activity with a common goal to create more economic development in the Tampa Bay region,” the spokesperson told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. “In addition to bulk and breakbulk cargo, automobiles and containers, among the areas where we see import/export opportunities for expanded rail activity is for perishables, including using CSX’s new Greenway refrigerated express service running between Tampa and the Northeast.”

Florida primarily relies on trucking, with only about 15% of Port Tampa Bay products shipped via rail. CSX is the sole Class I railroad that services the Tampa Bay area, forcing companies to ship goods via truck or CSX. For hazardous materials, trucks aren’t an option.

Precision scheduled railroading took off under former CSX CEO E. Hunter Harrison, a move aimed at efficiency that delighted investors but dismayed many customers. The efficiency tactic spread to the country’s other large railroad companies and has caught the eye of regulators.

TBARTA faces a daunting deadline

TBARTA, the board Camuso presented to on Friday, will be financially insolvent in 2024. All signs point to the agency no longer existing come that time, as the state hasn’t funded TBARTA, and local government money is also drying up.

Executive Director David Green discussed the option of disbanding the agency on Friday with board members. Board members mostly agreed they didn’t see the point in continuing. Merging with another agency has also been suggested.

Transit planning would be left to the other entities if TBARTA were to fold.

“It doesn’t sound good to say, but it’s dysfunctional how we operate,” said Janet Long, Pinellas County commissioner and longtime member of TBART