Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, CSX, by the early 2000s, operated the largest rail network in the eastern United States. A vast system of subsidiaries reaching Philadelphia, Miami, New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, and Buffalo. In all, its routes covered 23,000 miles in 23 states, the District of Columbia, and parts of Canada. CSX operated 1,142 miles, or 34 percent, of North Carolina's railway system, with 1,400 employees in the state.
Operations were concentrated of three major interstate routes and two local routes. One north-south CSX main line connected the Northeast and Florida via Rocky Mount, Wilson, Fayetteville, and Pembroke. An east-west main line linked Wilmington and Charlotte with Atlanta and New Orleans. A second north-south main line (previously the Clinchfield) connected Detroit to Atlanta via Marion. A CSX local route also ran from Rocky Mount eastward, serving Greenville and Plymouth; another operated as a local service route between Norlina and Hamlet by way of Raleigh.
CSX's major North Carolina facilities included freight classification yards at Hamlet, Rocky Mount, Charlotte, and Wilmington; locomotive servicing at Hamlet and Rocky Mount; an intermodal terminal at Charlotte; and bulk-intermodal terminals at Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Apex, and Wilmington. The railroad maintained an industrial development office in Charlotte.