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About two months after trimming 25 senior vice presidents and vice presidents from its management structure, CSX Transportation cut deeper into its administrative staff. On Feb. 5, the Class I furloughed 120 assistant vice president and directors, 100 of whom worked in the railroad's Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters.

"This is part of our 'Organizational Effectiveness Initiative' that was announced last November," says CSXT spokesman Gary Sease. "Its purpose is to establish clear ownership and accountability, and improve the speed of decision making — all to improve customer satisfaction."

Through the initiative, CSXT plans to reduce organizational layers from 11 to eight and increase managers' number of direct reports from four to eight or more. The railroad initially expected to cut between 800 and 1,000 non-agreement management positions by mid-2004, but the final tally currently is in flux, says Sease.

"There will be more separations in the first half, but we are not absolutely sure where we will wind up in terms of a total number," he says.

— Jeff Stagl