CSX to Level Cumberland Yard Hump

CSX plans to remove hump operations in Cumberland, Maryland, in favor of flat switching.

A report posted on the website of Trains magazine said the hump in Cumberland will be replaced by a classification yard ladder system.

The report indicated that similar yard ladder projects will be undertaken at yards in Willard and Hamlet, North Carolina, both of which lost their humps in 2017.

In a statement, CSX Chief Operating Office Mike Cory said the reconfigurations will increase yard capacities, particularly at Cumberland.

Cory said the reconfigured yard will allow “railcars that previously couldn’t move through that yard to do so.”

Cumberland handles traffic between the Northeast the Midwest. Some trains originating or terminating in Cumberland pass through Akron.

The work in Cumberland is expected to be completed by late this year. Switches on the ladder tracks will be automated.

CSX still has hump yards in Indianapolis (Avon); Birmingham, Alabama; Cincinnati; Nashville, Tennessee; Selkirk, New York, and Waycross, Georgia.

Tags: CSX, CSX hump yards, CSX yards, Cumberland Maryland