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An effort to tap the nation's universities for help in improving the environment and making operations more environmentally friendly is paying off for CSX Corp., according to the Class I.

Yesterday, CSX announced the results of its participation in the Environmental Defense Fund's 2011 Climate Corps program, which places specially trained graduate students in a three-month fellowship with companies, cities and universities to help address climate change-related issues. This year marks the second year CSX has participated in the program.

Earlier this year, CSX officials and a graduate student, Naveen Venkataraman, examined yard air compressors and the railroad’s data center in Jacksonville, Fla. They worked in conjunction with subject matter experts, financial planners, local utilities and auditors to gather and analyze data for the projects. The graduate student helped identify potential cost savings of more than $1.2 million and annual greenhouse-gas emission savings of nearly 3,000 metric tons, CSX officials said in a prepared statement.

"We're ecstatic that our partnership with the Climate Corps has demonstrated such actionable results,” said Skip Elliott, CSX’s vice president of public safety and environment.