LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – CSX Corp. said Tuesday it will close mechanical shops in Corbin, Ky., due to a drop in trains moving Appalachian coal to eastern U.S. markets, costing 180 workers their jobs.
The Corbin rail yard in southeastern Kentucky will stay open, but the facilities for inspecting and servicing coal trains will be shut down, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company announced in a news release.
“The decision to close the locomotive and car shops and a locomotive service center is the result of reduced need for locomotive and car maintenance there because of the significant decline of the region’s coal traffic,” CSX said.
The company blamed low natural gas prices and “regulatory action” for the sharp decline in coal shipments and revenue losses totaling more than $1 billion over the past four years.
CSX loaded 5,881 train cars of Central Appalachian coal during the week of October 14, down about 41 percent from the same period last year, according to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. During that same time, CSX increased its shipments of coal from western Kentucky’s Illinois Basin.
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers called CSX’s move a “perfect illustration of the ripple effect from the ‘War on Coal’ in Kentucky.” Stivers, a Republican whose district includes Corbin, singled out President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency for its “overreach.”
Employment in eastern Kentucky’s coal industry has climbed and dropped since 2000, reaching a peak of more than 15,000 in 2009, when it began to fall. There were fewer than 7,500 people working coal-related jobs in the region at the end of last year – the lowest level since 2000, according to Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet data.
The state’s western coal fields largely have added jobs since 2007, although they are a smaller segment of the state’s coal workforce.
CSX said it will keep about 100 workers at the Corbin yard and “remains committed” to the state, including a new rail yard in Hopkinsville in western Kentucky.
The company also plans to invest $90 million to improve a rail line between Louisville and Indianapolis, allowing heavier and faster trains to ship goods in the upper Midwest.
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