CSX and CN sign an MOU focused on a new intermodal service into Nashville

Class I railroad carriers CSX and CN said this week that they have inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) focused on the development of a new intermodal service into Nashville.

The companies said that this service will give shippers what it called a “seamless, all-rail alternative for international containers” going from Canada’s West Coast gateways through Memphis and then into Nashville. And they added that by replacing the current trucking leg with a steel-wheel interchange, both carriers will be able to deliver faster, more reliable, and more sustainable supply chain offerings for their respective customers.

What’s more, CSX and CN said that this effort leverages their histories of successful interline agreements, including an existing East Coast partnership between them, which serves the ports of New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, which commenced in 2019.  

Executive leadership at CSX and CN are optimistic about the prospects for this new intermodal service.

“This agreement allows us to expand our reach, enabling our customers to efficiently access more markets,” said Janet Drysdale, Interim Chief Commercial Officer, CN.

“Collaboration like this benefits everyone; railroads, customers, and communities, by driving growth, reliability, optionality, and sustainability.”

CSX Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Kevin Boone stated that CSX is committed to working with its interchange partners to create solutions that deliver mutual value and expand options available to customers.

“This new service with CN provides a faster and more sustainable all-rail option into Nashville, helping shippers strengthen their supply chains while reducing truck traffic on our highways,” said Boone.

This is the second intermodal partnership announcement made by CSX in recent weeks.

In late August, it said it is collaborating with BNSF on various intermodal service offerings focused on coast-coast movements.

The new service offerings include:

• the introduction of new, coast-to-coast, direct domestic intermodal services between Southern California and Charlotte, North Carolina and Jacksonville, Florida;
• a new service to be launched between Phoenix, Arizona, and Atlanta, Georgia, focusing on over-the-road (OTR) freight conversion to rail through a seamless product between the two railroads (with two new 10,000-foot sidings between Phoenix and Flagstaff being used to enable more efficient meet/pass operations on the route connecting to BNSF’s Southern Transcon); and
• the introduction of new direct international intermodal services between the Port of New York and New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia, and Kansas City

CSX and BNSF officials said that these new intermodal services will provide immediate value for customers in various ways, including increasing flexibility and optionality, while delivering integrated service for freight moving across the U.S. The companies added that additional details about these new services will be announced going forward.

Intermodal expert Larry Gross, president of Gross Transportation Consulting, told LM that these announcements come at a time when intermodal service levels are doing very well.

“Service levels are great,” said Gross. “The system is running very well, and the most significant sort of reading is that one of the things that the STB (Surface Transportation Board) tracks is how many intermodal trains are being held in the terminal, for lack of crews or power or other reasons. That number is running at historically low levels. So, what that is an indicator of is that there are adequate resources available to handle the volume. You've had these really sort of fairly sharp surges and drops associated with the tariffs, and the system has taken them in stride, as have the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which had very high-volume months in July. The main reason there are no service issues is because if you look all the way downstream, there is no congestion. The volume is flowing through the system like it should.”