The Cumberland Yard project includes removing the hump and hump tower and adding tracks optimized for flat switching.
These changes will enable the CSX team members to assemble trains on two automated tracks while simultaneously moving other cars, “effectively reducing car handlings, doubling their production capacity, and ensuring faster and more reliable delivery of customer goods,” according to CSX.
Critical to CSX’s network, Cumberland Yard is considered the processing point between the Northeast Corridor and the Midwest, according to Cumberland Yard Assistant Superintendent Blair Johnson, who along with Director, Mid-Atlantic Construction Brett Sanders, discussed demolishing the hump and installing a new switching ladder in a specially produced video (see below).
“These improvements are going to allow us to take advantage of the existing footprint here in Cumberland by having jobs switching on a double switching lead that is automated, at the same time as we’re having crews pulling,” reported Johnson, who noted that the team is “very excited” about the project timeline. Shorter in scope then typical projects, work began in second-quarter 2024 and is expected to wrap up by fourth-quarter 2024.
The infrastructure improvements at Cumberland Yard “will ensure a safer work environment for our ONE CSX team and enhance the customer experience,” summed up CSX Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mike Cory. “By increasing the network’s capacity and improving the flow of freight rail traffic, we can eliminate thousands of touches and millions of out-of-route miles for Midwest-bound traffic.”
CSX expects to undertake similar infrastructure improvements at its Willard, Ohio, and Hamlet, N.C., yards.
