CSX ALBANY DIVISION "NH Dispatcher" is No More

FROM THE AMTRAK STATIONMASTER (Steve R.)AT ERIE, PA:

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As of 9:00AM 03/15/10 the CSX "Albany Division" no longer controls the area between CP 2 (Buffao, NY.) and CP 97 (Fairview, Pa.) It is now under the control of the "Great Lakes Division" located in Indianapolis, Indiana. I happened to be at the station doing my monthly reports when the change took place and the Erie, Pa. Yardmaster was talking to the Y120 about it. At about 9:10AM he told the crew that "as of 9:00AM the Great Lakes Division took over and everything went black." He would call him back in about 15 minutes to get the line up at CP 85 to get across the mains. When I left around 9:30AM they had the line up so everything must be working. Still have not heard the dispatchers talking about the change but CSX "NH Dispatcher" no longer exists. It is now "IH" through Erie. More updates as I hear of them.

UPDATE:
Just heard on the scanner as of 12:05PM. From the 'caution you figure it out' files: "IH" just informed a train that the main road channel will remain AAR # 50. (160-860) However the Dispatcher's channel will be interesting depending on where you are. West of CP 97 the Dispatcher's channel has been AAR # 94 (161-520) and east of there Channel AAR # 82 (161-340). Well as of today that is changing to the following: (Of course this can change but as of now this is it.) CP 97 west ch.94 along with the Erie, Pa base. Rypley, NY. base ch. 82 and Dunkirk/Angola bases ch. 94. We shall see if that changes but as of today that is it. So it will be interesting to hear the new voices on the radio. More updates as i hear them.
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rayg

Ray Grabowski, Jr.
Lake Shore Railway Historical Society
North East, PA
CSX cp73 "on the Waterlevel Route"

That is interesting news. Do you know if they folded the Lakeshore Sub into the Erie West Sub as well or just changed the Lakeshore Sub to the Great Lakes division? The Erie West Sub to Cleveland is also under the control of the IH Dispatcher.

Dave

Don't know too many details as of yet (5:30PM 3/15/10). Am guessing that I will find out more after the Amtrak office here goes through one or two cycles with the Lake Shore Limited.

rayg

This is an update directly from the Conductor on Amtrak train # 49 of 03/16/10. As he was marking up for duty at the Depew, NY. station he asked the Albany Division "NG" (Buffalo Terminal) Dispatcher what the "new" Divsion looked like? He was told that the Terminal now controls up to CP 15 instead of the old Division point at CP 2. Other than that everything is the same as i originally reported. As far as i know at the moment the Great Lakes "IH" Dispatcher now handles everything from CP171 (east end of Collinwood yard Cleveland) to CP 15 (just west of Bayview, NY.) Conrail did this some years ago and it did not last too long so we shall see how it works out for CSX. More updates as i hear them. Steve. R. Amtrak Erie, Pa station.

Wow this is big news, but in this economy not surprising. Any word on what will happen to the guys who worked the "NH Territory". Thanks for posting this. Thats a large territory from CP-15 to Collinwood, but with less trains running due to the economy I can see it working out.

RE: the people who work the "lakeshore sub" I have not heard anything. My educated-guess is that everyone stays the same, just reporting lines change. Of course, that's a guess again, but when in the business world does something like this happen and everything else just 'stays the same'?
RE: a big territory... roughly an additional 85 miles. Interchange w/ NS at a couple points, East Erie Commercial/GE, and the B&P at Erie, yards at Dunkirk and Erie(controlled by Erie Yardmaster).
RE: a decline in traffic - that one is interesting. Sometimes it seems traffic is indeed down, yet other times it seems a busy as ever! While working at the Lake Shore RR Museum in North East, I see it all up close!

rayg

Interesting note on the change is the fact that about two weeks ago a new person was"posting" learning the board on the "NH" desk. The conductor that gave me the info yesterday also said that they had bullitons that said the change would take place, then not take place. So it has been in the works for a few months it is just that they could not settle on an exact date. Otherwise why train some one to do a job that will not be handled by that office in a few short weeks! BUT this is CSX we talking about! The long time second trick Dispatcher told a train crew on Sunday that he had bid on the "NG" relief job. So at least he has something to fall back on. Don't know about the rest of them though. I wish them all the best. So far things seem to be running smoothly. But Maintenance season is getting close so it will be interesting to see how one person handles all of that track and headaches! More updates as i hear them. Steve R. Amtrak Erie, Pa station.

The Buffalo Terminal Dsp. now controls to mp 15.5 and the NI controls from there to mp 171. These moves are in advance of an upcoming CSX Division merging and shift.

The Albany Division dispatchers were offered 2 equity positions with the transfer of the NH dispatching territory to Indianapolis. The jobs were put up for bid in Indy and Selkirk and the 2 highest bidders in Selkirk are headed to Indy to work there. They carry their current dispatcher seniority dates. There were 3 extra board people from the Indy office who came to Selkirk to train on the NH territory for about 2 weeks, then went back to Indy. Three Selkirk disaptchers went to Indy for the cutover and are there temporarily training the Indy dispatchers on the IH desk. Selkirk is now down from 10 to 8 dispatching desks in the past few years and 2 chief dispatcher positions down from 4 a few years ago.

what has this been like for the csx? do they like the change or not?

lakeshoredave wrote:what has this been like for the csx? do they like the change or not?

The only constant in today's railroading is change.