CSX Corp.'s Railroad Unit Gets Business Back on Track --- Michael Ward Looks to Be Firm's CEO Heir-Apparent After Leading Service Changes
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Officials at CSX Corp.'s railroad business are accustomed to receiving complaints from customers about poor rail service. But lately they are starting to hear something new: praise.</br></br>"They are doing things better," says Craig Huss, vice president of transportation at Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the Decatur, Ill., grain-processing company.</br></br>After years of service and merger-related problems, the Eastern railroad is taking a different course these days -- running a reliable railroad. Under Michael Ward, who became president of the railroad business CSX Transportation Inc. in 2000, CSX has cleared up its worst service problems and started winning over customers.</br></br>While still trailing other railroads in overall efficiency, CSX is moving toward running its freight trains on a more precise schedule. It is trying to change the old adversarial railroad culture that created internal friction. And it is winning some freight business away from trucks and securing higher rates from customers for improved rail service.</br></br>"Customers were actually telling us the truth when they said if we gave them more consistent service, they would give us more business and pay us more," Mr. Ward says.