FAIRFIELD — Those trying to reduce congestion on Interstate 75 have turned to an unlikely source for solving a highway problem — the region's main railroad, which said it is trying to do a better job at taking trucks off the road.

        Tuesday, the North-South Initiative, a group of area officials formed by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) to study I-75, heard from CSX Transportation, which operates as many as 55 trains daily through Greater Cincinnati and owns the bustling Queensgate rail yard near downtown.

        “The issue isn't just moving cars and people anymore, it's the entire transportation system, including freight,” said Warner Moore, director of corridor studies for OKI. “We've never talked to the railroads before, and they've never really wanted to talk to us. This is really unprecedented, and shows a significant change in philosophy from both sides.”

        CSX officials said every train car equals five trucks and that business in the region is up 7 percent, some of which is natural growth and some of which is a switch to trains from trucks.

        In Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, CSX handled about 2.5 million train cars in 2000, which is the equivalent of 12.5 million trucks.

        I-75 is the busiest truck route nationally, with more than 15,000 trucks a day using the highway in Greater Cincinnati within I-275, according to OKI.

        “We're not here to say that we're ever going to replace trucks, but we can take traffic away,” said Ron Bierman, general manager of CSX's Midwest division. “And we have refocused ourselves on getting back to the basics of railroading and doing the best job we can.”

        Mr. Bierman said the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company is undergoing four initiatives to improve performance and perhaps take business away from the trucking industry.

        Those include improving train speed, decreasing the amount of time individual cars spend at switching yards, and improving the breakthrough agreement with competitor Norfolk Southern that allows each railroad to use the other's tracks in Ohio.

        In addition, Mr. Moore said that Norfolk Southern, which operates another 45-55 trains daily through the Tristate, was seeking a seat on the North South Initiative.

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